


Familiar Feeling

by Angel170



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Adam is Mary’s son, Bottom!Jimmy for Cas, Canon Typical Violence, Cas and Jimmy are twins, Cat!Jimmy, Familiar!Gabe, Familiar!Jimmy, Familiar!Michael, M/M, Modern Setting, Sexual acts between twin brothers and their shared boyfriend, Witch!Adam, cat!Cas, dcj, familiar!Cas, implied Bottom!Cas for Dean, implied Bottom!Dean for Jimmy, implied Top!Dean for Cas, implied top!Jimmy for Dean, magical au, no bestiality, plot heavy, top!Cas for Jimmy, witch!Dean, witch!Sam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-05-28
Packaged: 2018-11-05 23:23:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 29,735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11023749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angel170/pseuds/Angel170
Summary: In a world where magic and witchcraft are real and accepted, Dean Winchester is the first-born son to the two most powerful Witch families. It had always been assumed he would be very powerful. Unfortunately, all witches need a familiar to help them channel their excess magic, to avoid causing harm to themselves or the surrounding area when using their magic.Dean has gone twenty-eight years without finding his familiar. He has watched both his brothers find, and fall in love with theirs. That is until  he feels the call, the connection to his familiar.He assumes the man, Castiel, is his familiar. When they meet, his familiar in cat form, Dean is shocked to find that the connection isn’t as strong as it had been. The next night, a different cat comes to him, but still, the connection isn’t exactly as it was. Even though it is unheard of, Dean assumes Cas can just change into two different cats. It doesn’t take long for Dean to discover the truthCan he get his family to accept and believe that this isn’t a scam? Can the family come together before danger strikes? Can they beat the Grand Coven?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Holy crap I actually did a big bang. This is my first ever bang and I am so happy and proud that it was DCJ that was my first. I want to thank first and foremost my amazing artist [AnonAnton](http://anonanton.deviantart.com/) for not only choosing me and believing in my fic and making such beautiful pieces for it but for also stepping up and being my beta even though it wasn’t her job. Anton you are amazing and wonderful and I am so glad that we’re friends.
> 
> I also want to thank the mods for making a DCJ Big Bang but also for just being so understanding and making this easy and fun. I lost my father in law and my oldest sister within a week of each other and really didn’t think I could finish this and I felt horrible cause Anton had already made some beautiful pieces. But the mods, were awesome and gave me the time I needed to mourn and then escape into my writing and were kind enough to put me near the end to give me time to finish.
> 
> I may not have gotten the chance to add everything I wanted to but that’s what timestamps are for right lol. I’m proud of this fic and grateful to it for connecting me to such amazing people. I hope you all enjoy the fic and the art please give [Anonymousantonym](http://anonymousantonym.tumblr.com/) all the love. So, on with the show.

The woods were dark and silent but Dean wasn’t worried. He couldn’t explain it, how being in such an unnatural place with no sound could still fill him with calm. He walked up a tree-covered hill, taking care to not trip over large branches and roots under his feet. It was too dark to make out anything further away, but the moon was bright and he could see a few feet ahead of him, so he continued going straight. This new trail he was making for himself had no tracks of anyone or anything having walked it, he was in unexplored territory, he should have felt something… more. Excitement at being the first, the only person here, or fear of getting lost and never being found. Yet, all he felt was calm and the eyes that he could feel watching his back. 

It should have been unnerving, alone in dark woods, no sounds, not even his breathing or the crunching of his boots on dried leaves, could be heard. He was on his own, no weapons, no family or friends, he couldn’t even feel his magic. And there was something watching him. There was more than one; a pair, his mind whispered. There was a pair watching him, following him up the hill as silent as the night. Yet he felt no fear. They meant him no harm, he knew it as an absolute fact. There was nothing to base this on, but he felt it. Their eyes on him, watching him and guarding him like a thick blanket on a cold winter's night.

Just a few feet ahead he could see where the trees ended and gave way to an open space, one where the full light of the moon shone brightly. He could feel the pair coming closer to him. He thought they wanted to show themselves in the clearing. His feet took him closer, his clothes more visible in the bright light. He could hear sounds now, and feel his powers rumbling under his skin. All he needed was one more step.

The sound of knocking shocked Dean out of his sleep, the dream slipping into nothingness as he looked around his room. The knocking continued, steadily getting louder. He groaned into his pillow before calling out, “What?” He grimaced at how hoarse his throat felt. Maybe he should have juice this morning instead of coffee.

“Dean, I need you to go to Bela’s and get some ingredients for that protection spell I’m making for Aunt Ellen.” 

Dean groaned into his pillow again; he should have known the incessant knocking had been from his younger brother, Sam. The annoying giant just couldn’t let him have a day to himself. At least their youngest brother, Adam, let him sleep. Sometimes it really sucked being descended from the two most powerful witch families; it just meant more responsibilities and less nap time.

“Why can’t you go? Today’s supposed to be my day off, man.” Dean flipped around onto his back and started to grudgingly get out of bed. He knew what Sam’s reply would be, and he knew Aunt Ellen needed the protection spell. This was more about his job as the oldest to annoy his younger brother.

“You know why, Dean,” Sam continued speaking through the closed door. “Bela is always hitting on me and it pisses Gabe off. He already attacked her once and if I try to go to her shop without him, she’ll be all over me so I come back smelling like her.”

Dean chuckled to himself. That had been a funny fight. Gabriel was Sam’s familiar, a short reddish-brown pine marten and he wasn’t much taller in his human form. Dean had been there when Bela had reached for something on the table Sam had been standing in front of. Oh sure, Bela said it had been an accident, but the way she cupped his brother’s package had been anything but. Gabe had let out a terrifying screech, shifted, and climbed up her leg and body before scratching and biting her face. Dean and Sam had both struggled to separate them, and by the time Sam finally got his familiar boyfriend off her, the store had been in ruins.

“Alright, but at least help a guy out and tell me there’s food for me,” Dean said.

“Gabe already made you a breakfast wrap. Hurry up before you’re eating it cold.” With that Sam turned and the sounds of his descending footsteps were all that was left.

Dean grabbed a pair of soft, comfortable jeans with a hole in the knee, and threw on one of his well-worn band shirts. He should probably dress up more, try and look respectable, it’s what his mother would want him to do. 

“Look your best in case you meet your familiar today,” she had always told them. Mary had been the last powerful witch of the Campbell line and had an equally powerful familiar in Colette, the impala.

But that had been a lifetime ago; before tragedy struck their home, ruining their family, and Dean had gone year after year after year without finding his own familiar. Now he was twenty-eight and unable to perform most of the magic the community needed. Without a familiar there was no way to channel his magic without risking a giant explosion of power. He could work smaller spells just fine if he used power-channeling crystals to suck up the excess energy he threw out, but it was embarrassing. And having to set the crystals up just reminded him of his failure as literally the only member of his family to have never found his familiar. So he avoided using magic, worked his regular nine-to-five at Uncle Bobby’s garage, and was now rushing downstairs to get his breakfast wrap because all these depressing thoughts and memories were making him crave hot cheesy goodness.

In the kitchen he found Gabe sitting on the counter with Sam standing between his legs. Both men were so lost in their tonsil explorations they didn’t hear Dean clear his throat, twice. Annoyed, he grabbed one of the kitchen chairs and banged it on the floor making the couple jump apart in shock.

“Knock it off. People eat in here,” Dean growled, glaring at them until Sam stepped away. Gabriel just glared back.

“Why don’t you knock it off or I won’t give you your breakfast?” Gabriel countered, his lips turned in a smirk, knowing how much the eldest Winchester was a food whore.

“Try it and Sammy can go to Bela’s alone,” Dean shot back before yanking the breakfast wrap out of the short trickster’s hand and turning to leave. “I’ll be back in a few. No sex in the kitchen, or living room, or hallway. As a matter of fact, just go to your own damn room for that.”

“Don’t get mad Dean-o, once you find your familiar you’ll feel the pull and maybe I’ll be nice enough to not cockblock you,” Gabriel called out with a laugh.

Dean glowered at the reminder that the first-born son of both the Winchester and Campbell lines still didn’t have a familiar. He slammed the door to his ‘67 Chevy Impala harder than he normally would. He knew it was wrong to take his anger out on his baby, so he offered a silent apology by caressing her steering wheel. It wasn’t even Gabe’s fault really. Sure, he was an annoying, loud, obnoxious, little shit, but it wasn’t his fault Dean was all alone. Not as a witch without a familiar or even as a single man closing in on thirty. While his brothers were in relationships with their familiars, there were witches who had platonic relationships with their animal partners. Like Dean’s mother and father; his parents were practically soulmates, and their familiars were together as well.

Dean still remembered the last Thanksgiving they had shared as a family. He had snuck into the kitchen to steal a cookie and his parents had been inside stealing kisses. So, he had gone to the living room to watch the parade and Colette had been sitting on Cain’s lap, both in human form, just enjoying the moment. Dean didn’t want to disturb the couples and instead went upstairs to wait for his brothers to wake up from their naps. If only he had known what would be waiting for his family just a few short months later… He shook his head, snapping himself out of his quickly darkening thoughts. 

Reaching Bela’s shop, he parked his beloved Impala in the parking lot, not wanting to leave her out on the busy street. The bell chimed overhead as he stepped into the rosemary- and lavender-scented room. His nose twitched at the smell, but he went straight to the front counter and rang the bell. His eyes scanned the shop, taking in all the cherrywood used for counters and shelves. They held everything from spell books to glass bottles filled with ingredients, and even cursed objects. He could see the cursed lucky rabbit’s foot in the corner, sitting in a glass case with warning signs around it. As much as he may not like Bela, he had to admit the woman was incredible at getting hard-to-find items.

“Well obviously you must be lost.” Dean whirled around and saw a tall, thin, blond man wearing the most ridiculously low cut v-neck shirt he’d ever seen. “This establishment is meant to cater to the highest of clientele. Whatever you are looking for,” he gave Dean a once over, sneering at his ripped jeans, “I’m sure you would be better suited to find at the Walmart in the next town.”

Dean bristled at this man judging him. “I don’t think the guy shopping in a 16-year-old girl’s closet has a leg to stand on judging my damn clothes. Now run along and get Bela if you want to keep your job.”

The man gave Dean a slow, knowing grin. “Oh I don’t think I have any reason to worry about job security.” 

Dean flinched as the man leapt up and shifted into a white swan, flying over Dean’s head and through the open door leading to the storage room. 

“Son of a bitch!” Dean grumbled to himself. His situation was getting ridiculous. Was that Bela’s familiar or did she just hire him because he was as snooty as she was? Even if he wasn’t Bela’s familiar, Dean didn’t want anything to do with him. He was glad that they weren’t paired together. He’d rather be alone and unable to properly use his magic than be stuck with a douche like him.

“Dean Winchester, it’s been too long.” Bela stepped out from the back already carrying the small wooden boxes Dean knew contained his brother’s order.

“Bela, I met your… birdbrain.”

She nodded sagely as she rang him up on the antique-looking register. “Balthazar, isn’t he amazing? I found him when I was in the Amazon last month delivering a cursed orb to a buyer. I honestly never thought I would have a familiar of my own. They are becoming quite rare, you know. So many witches are being left without any help absorbing their excess powers and redirecting it. It’s such a shame, only the most lowly, weak-powered witches seem to be able to cast spells now, while the others are forced to wait and wait for familiars who will never come. Thank the absent gods I’m not one of them.” She looked at him for a moment and frowned. “Oh, right, sorry. I keep forgetting it’s only your younger brothers with familiars. But honestly how strange that the first-born of the joining of Winchester and Campbell still doesn’t have a familiar.”

“Yeah, amazing. Give me the damn ingredients, Bela.” Dean shoved his hand at her trying to reach for the bag holding the boxes but she moved further behind the counter just out of his reach.

“Wait, this is the famous Dean Winchester?” Balthazar asked as he stepped back into the room. He ignored Dean’s evil glare and stepped right up to him before bowing his head. “I’m sorry for the loss of your mother. She was a good witch and a pillar of the community and I’m sorry for the loss of your father. Even if his passing was natural, losing them both must have been very difficult.”

Dean was taken aback at Balthazar’s change. The show of respect wasn’t unheard of. His family was famous, becoming infamous because of his mother’s murder. He was used to familiars especially coming up to show their respect for his loss, but he wasn’t expecting it from someone who acted like a douchebag. 

“Uh...yeah...thanks,” he stuttered, unsure how to respond.

Bela rolled her eyes at Dean and his emotional constipation. Clearly pitying him, she passed him the bag. “Next time send your brother. If he’s going to order from me he should do the pick up. Otherwise, I’ll think he’s avoiding me.”

“Bela, I can say in full confidence that he is most definitely avoiding you.” Dean took the bag and headed for the door. “It’s the only thing protecting you from getting attacked by a feral marten, again.”

Dean could feel eyes on him as he walked back to the car and the familiarity of it had his mind reeling. The forgotten dream from earlier was coming back, but in a hazy fog, hiding most of what happened. He looked around the empty parking lot, only seeing a line of trees leading to the abandoned building on the other side of the block. He squinted, trying to see through the thick grass, but there was no sound, no movement to let him know anyone was there. He opened his mouth to yell out, then thought better of it. It was probably all in his mind. He had been woken up way too early and he must still be fighting his sleep haze. He turned his back to the trees, got in his car, and pointed her back towards home.

So Bela had found her familiar. Dean’s thoughts swirled around the British beauty. She had found something he had wanted for himself for so long. It wasn’t shocking anymore for a witch to not have a familiar; in the past decade there had been a severe shortage. Witches had never been a large majority of the population. It had always been believed that familiars were born at the same time as their witch counterpart. Dean snorted, thinking of Adam having a 5-year age difference with his, so obviously that wasn’t true. His father and Cain, his Scottish deerhound, had nearly a 12-year age difference. His mother and Colette had a 5-year age difference. Only Sam and Gabe were close in age: his brother was 24 and the sandy-haired prankster was 25. The world was changing and familiars were becoming a rare breed, and witches were following not far behind. Did he want a familiar? Of course, but Dean had a regular job, took care of his family, lived his life. He was happy. He could accept never having a magical partner, never feeling the spark of having someone that completed him on the most profound level, even never being able to use the full force of his powers.

It wasn’t like he hadn’t tried to find his familiar. It was just the ones he’d met weren’t the right fit. There had been Benny Lafitte, the brown bear, that Dean had dated for a year in high school. They had tried to make it work but never felt the  _ zing _ , that call that brought witch and familiar together. But Benny had felt the call with Andrea, who was a strong and good witch who liked to mix magic with food, and honestly, even Dean knew they were perfect together. 

Then there had been Lisa, the fox, in college, and that one had hurt because they both had felt something. It hadn’t been the pull from his soul he’d always heard of, but more of a weak-in-the-knees type of feeling. But it had been something at least, and the closest Dean had ever felt. Unfortunately for Dean, it wasn’t meant to be either, and Lisa had met her true witch two years later. They even had a son together and would send Dean and his family Christmas gifts. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t begrudge Lisa her happiness. He was selfish but not that much. It was actually thanks to Dean looking for his familiar that Adam had his, not that he would ever tell any of them the real reason why Dean had brought him home that day.

It had been Dean’s third year in college. Michael had been in his elective film course and Dean had been smitten since the first moment he saw the dark-haired, hunter green-eyed man. It took him nearly the entire semester before he finally found the nerve to walk up to him out on the quad. He hadn’t even wanted him as a familiar, not really, but only because he knew if they were meant for each other they would have felt it in class. Sure, he had seen Michael look at him with that intense stare of his, but Dean figured maybe Michael was as attracted to him as he was. So one day, after making sure to wear his tightest jeans and the green shirt Adam had used a simple spell on to make it perfectly match his eyes, he walked up to Michael, stopping him in his tracks. Dean still feels nauseous thinking about how it all played out.

“Hey, Michael, right? I’m Dean, we’re in Professor Sutter’s film class together.” Dean had given him a cocky grin knowing how it lit up his face. He was well aware of his good looks.

Michael frowned at him, his brows furrowed in confusion. “Why did you ask like you don’t know who I am? We’re in the same class, I sit in front of you and we have had several debates where you wrongly tried to convince me, and the class, that Indiana Jones is an American classic, despite the fact that it is one of the most unoriginal, uninspired, and wholly inaccurate representation of history and archaeology in film history.”

Dean had bitten back the urge to snap at him for once again crapping all over one of his favorite movies. “Actually I was trying to be friendly.”

“Why would you need to try? I don’t dislike you, just your movie choices.”

Dean had felt his face heat up. He never had learned not to be nervous in front of a handsome man without blushing. He had tried to laugh off his nervousness and had stepped closer to the dark-haired man until they were nearly touching; the closest they had been all year. Michael’s eyes had widened as a soft gasp escaped his pale pink lips.

“Take me to your home.” Despite his smaller size, Michael had towered over Dean in that moment.

Dean had been taken aback, blinking rapidly at the change in the other man and the hungry look in his eyes. “Uh, sure, but my brothers might be home.”

“Brothers? Yes, that’s fine. Come on.” Michael had grabbed Dean by his wrist and nearly dragged him to the parking lot, knowing which car belonged to Dean. 

He had been impatient the entire ride, asking Dean how much longer until they arrived, and rubbing his hands nervously on his pants. Dean had been excited. He knew the outfit he had picked out made him look good but he hadn’t expected the reaction Michael had given him.

“Hey, look, Mike, if you’re nervous we don’t have to go to my place, we can go somewhere else?” Dean offered as he saw Michael wipe his palms against his pants again.

Michael had turned a glare on Dean that nearly made him flinch and grip the wheel tighter. “You are taking me to your home now. This is not up for debate, Dean Winchester.”

“Okay, okay. Sheesh.” 

In moments they were parked in front of Dean’s house and Michael had been staring at his hands.

“Mike, you okay?”

“It’s Michael,” he responded with his head down, missing the soft smile on Dean’s face. “I’m nervous. I know I shouldn’t be, realistically I know what should happen, but I’m still nervous. I’m not used to this feeling, I don’t like it.”

“Hey.” Dean had reached out laying his hand over Michael’s. “Look, I don’t know why you feel nervous, but nothing, and I mean nothing, is going to happen unless you one hundred percent want it to. Neither I, nor my brothers, are those types of guys. It’s whatever you want to do, Michael, but personally I say we go inside, I make some dinner, and you just hang out for awhile. Like I said, nothing has to happen.”

Michael’s smile had been so pure and grateful that Dean had felt terrible imagining some horrible past that made Michael react that way to a booty call. They had walked into the house and Michael left his side making a beeline for the living room, stopping in front of Dean’s youngest brother Adam.

“I’m Michael Cohen.” Michael had given Adam a soft smile that had instantly put Dean on edge as his brother had returned the same soft smile.

“Adam Winchester, so… let’s see what I’ve got.” Adam had given him a flirty wink, and Michael had chuckled before stepping back, shifting into a beautiful white owl. Michael had lifted himself to land on Adam’s shoulder and nuzzled into his dirty blond hair.

Dean had stood there in shock, realizing why Michael had wanted to come home with him and why he had been nervous. It had been because he could sense Adam’s magic on Dean’s shirt and knew Dean was related to the witch he was destined to be paired with.

Dean thanked the absent gods that Gabe and Adam never found out the truth about that day. Dean had no doubt that neither short, snarky bastard would allow him to go unscathed from the embarrassing misunderstanding. As it was, because of the heart-to-heart in the car, everyone just thought Dean had known from the start and was trying to make his future brother-in-law feel safe and comfortable.

“Sammy, I’m back.” Dean walked into the house, forcing his thoughts away from the past, as Michael walked up to him.

“Gabriel was in your room. I don’t know why but I assume it was for nothing good,” Michael warned him before heading off to the kitchen.

Dean groaned, his teeth clenched as his mind flashed with all the possible tricks that could have been placed in his room. Another reason having a familiar would be helpful for Dean; no more nasty tricks from Gabriel. Gabe had tried to play a trick on Adam just once after Michael moved in and the owl had grabbed the rodent in his claws and flown out the window. Gabriel had been so terrified he shifted to his human form and landed in a heap on the ground, breaking his wrist. He never dared to enter Adam’s room again. 

Dean headed for the spell room in the back and found both of his brothers talking inside.

“Here’s your delivery, princess.” Dean passed the bag to Sam before messing up Adam’s hair, smiling as his youngest brother squawked and tried to put it to rights.

“Thanks, Dean. I’ll start the spell after lunch and head over to deliver it.” Sam opened each box to make sure the ingredients were safe and not touching each other.

“Hey, did you know Bela found her familiar?” Dean tried to keep whatever jealousy he felt out of his voice. Judging by how Adam’s head shot up in excitement and Sam continued cataloguing the purchase, he guessed it worked.

“Yeah, Balthazar, a tundra swan. She sent it out in an email to all her customers so we wouldn’t be surprised seeing him there or try and take him.” Sam’s nose crinkled as his body shuddered in disgust at the thought of having anyone but Gabe as his familiar.

“I didn’t get any email,” Adam frowned at his brothers, looking between both.

“You never go to her shop, runt. You and Mike mostly do healings,” Dean reminded him.

“So? I still go there on occasion. I should have been notified. Especially since he’s from out of town. You know all the familiars who move here have to be examined and added to the registry so we know how many are in town and can watch if whatever is affecting the low number of familiars, affects those here,” Adam reminded them both. 

Dean put his hand on his brother’s shoulder to stop him before he got too ruffled. “Calm down, Adam. You can just call Bela and tell her to bring Balthazar to the clinic so you and Mike can check him out. ‘Sides whatever is going on is probably natural anyway. It’s not like there are a lot of familiar babies being born in a witch and familiar couple. You and Sam are both guys and I seriously doubt Gabe or Mike are gonna be carrying any babies so—” Dean shrugged. “It’s probably just a shortage of familiar on familiar lovin’.”

Adam gave Dean his own patented bitchface. It was far from being a new argument between them. “It doesn’t matter if familiars don’t mate with each other. Even being with a witch, the offspring could be a familiar. And there has been plenty of recorded evidence to suggest that even non-magical humans could give birth to familiars if they’re descendants of familiars.” Adam drew a breath to begin the same old rant, uncaring of how bored Dean looked. “The same isn’t true for our families because of the extensive power that each Winchester and Campbell has innately, that makes it impossible for us or our children to have a familiar offspring. The magic we carry is practically stored in our genetic code. Well, not exactly, but you get what I mean. And familiars’ magic is about pulling from us, taking the excess that would otherwise explode and instead channel it through themselves so we aren’t in danger. They can only make a limited amount of magic at a time until their bonding, so whatever is going on these past few years has nothing to do with birth rates. It could very well be some type of sickness or infection.”

Dean rolled his eyes and brought his youngest brother into a tight hug, forcing Adam’s head into his chest to stop his ranting. “Okay okay, Doogie Howser. It was just a freaking suggestion.” He let go when Adam started hitting his sides. 

“Seriously, Adam, we don’t know what’s going on and no one will ever tell you to stop looking. Dean’s just a dick,” Sam said with a small grin as he began to prepare the area for his spell.

“You’re a dick. Waking me up on my day off to go do errands for you, and now calling me names. I don’t have to take this abuse.” Dean dramatically lifted his head so his nose was in the air and haughtily walked out of the room. 

For as much as they fought and argued and how often the house had a tendency to feel too small for all of them, Dean loved his brothers and was thankful every second of his life that he had them. Back in his own bedroom, he peeled his pants off, flinging them to the other side of the room before throwing himself back on his bed. His thoughts swirled again over his non-existent familiar and his brother’s words. Maybe his familiar had existed but had been so weak that some virus ended him or her. He frowned at the thought as he felt himself weighed down with guilt. What if his familiar had needed him and he hadn’t been there? What if he or she had died waiting for Dean to come save them? What if—

A large explosion erupted in his room throwing tons of glitter and rainbow confetti string from the ceiling. He jumped off the bed in fear as he looked around and realized what had happened. 

“No sad thoughts, Dean-o!” Gabriel’s laughing voice sounded from downstairs.

“Gabriel, you no good rat! I’m gonna kill you!” Dean got up from the floor with a growl and yanked the door open to chase his annoying trickster of a brother-in-law. 

The sound of laughing and angry shouting caused the others to just roll their eyes at the usual spectacle.

******

It was always hard going into work after a day off doing nothing, if you didn’t like your job. Luckily for Dean, he adored his job and went in excited to start  _ every  _ day. He walked into Singer’s auto body garage with a tray of coffees for the mechanics and one hot chocolate for Charlie, who worked up front as a receptionist. 

“Hey, Charles, good morning. Here’s your disgusting salted caramel abomination and ruination to all things good and decent.” He passed her the cup before she swatted his arm playfully.

“Morning, Winchester. You have a car on your lift waiting for you. Came in yesterday at closing,” Charlie responded before taking an over-dramatic sip of her drink and sighing loudly, not even bothering to wipe the whipped cream mustache from the top of her lip. “That’s some good abomination.”

“You’re disgusting, Bradbury. I’m ashamed to call you my friend.”

“Best friend,” she corrected him, before passing him a set of car keys. “Now go fix the pimpmobile and leave me to enjoy my drink in peace.” She laughed as she tossed her long red hair back behind her slim shoulder, her fingers already gliding over the keys of the computer. 

“Alright, I see how it is, using a man for his hot chocolate connections, how dare you.” Dean turned away laughing, and headed for the break room to put down the tray and get his jumpsuit on. Soon as the suit was on he walked out to his area, zipping up the front as he saw the car waiting for him. He winced looking at what Charlie had correctly nicknamed the pimpmobile. It was a gold-colored 1978 Lincoln Continental Mark V and, without even reaching it, he was already loath to be working on it. Who would drive such an embarrassment? He picked up the clipboard with the information on it and skimmed down to see the car had been modified. 

“Aw, come on. Hydraulics on a Lincoln? Why? Has to be a pimp, who the hell else would want to ride in this?” he whined and glared at the car. “It’s not your fault, I know, your owner is just a terrible person or is completely clueless about cars or both. Don’t worry, girl, I’ll fix whatever the mean ol’ pimp did to you.” He opened the door and sat behind the wheel. His body froze before even putting the key to the ignition. 

The magic inside him that had been latent came to life, sparks flaring in his veins as he could almost feel cool, fresh rainwater on his skin. It was like a roaring Christmas fire had been lit inside of him, eggnog and caroling and warmth of family and hearth while outside he was in the fresh open plains of a field in the early spring during a shower, barefoot in the grass. His breathing stuttered as he lost himself to the magic, the feeling of rightness inside of him. Two completely different feelings inside his body and on his skin, yet it worked well together, making him feel whole and alive and loved and powerful. It was everything he had ever wanted but never knew to ask for.

“Dean? Dean, you okay?” Charlie practically yanked him out of the car and looked him over, her eyes wide with fright and her skin paler than normal.

“What? What happened?” Dean looked around disoriented at the empty garage. “Where did everyone go?”

“Everyone else went to lunch. I found you sitting in the car with your head back and you were just….crying. Dean… how long have you been sitting there?”

Reaching up to his face, Dean touched the pads of his fingers to the wetness there. He still had the wet stains from his tears but now that he was out of the car he was calming down. He looked at Charlie. Her usual playful green eyes were filled with worry and fear. He must have been a sight to see, and he was glad that none of his co-workers had seen him. He really didn’t even want Charlie to see him like that, but as a non-magical human he could explain it away.

“It’s alright, Charlie, just a lot on my mind and… I guess I lost track of time. I’m sorry.” It was as honest an answer as Dean could give in that moment.

“Dammit, Dean.” She crushed him in a tight hug, not caring that they were both on the floor of the shop. With her head tucked into his neck, her voice was muffled but she knew Dean could hear her. “You scared the crap out of me. Is this because of that swan guy at the magic shop? I already talked to Sam and Adam so don’t even bother lying. I get you hold a lot in and I get why you use the lone space cowboy act but it’s okay to feel and you gotta let yourself feel. Or else it’ll bubble up like that okay?”

“Okay, Charlie, I’m sorry.” He really didn’t want to talk about Balthazar or what Charlie had walked in on. Not when he still needed to figure it out for himself, nevermind explaining it to someone else.

It took a few minutes before he was able to convince her to get off him so they could both get up. She kept trying to get him to go to lunch with her, obviously worried about leaving him alone, but he begged her off. He needed to get information on the owner of the car. She had been skeptical about giving him anything more to do with the vehicle that somehow caused the emotionally stunted Dean Winchester to break down crying. Luckily he convinced her that, because of how many hours he spent not working, he needed to apologize to the owner and explain that the work would take at least another day.

Getting the key to the locked cabinet, he sent Charlie away so he could get to the owner’s paperwork. There were mostly regulars in the shop, so it was easy to find the manila folder with a single slip of paper inside. The driver's license had been copied onto the bottom of the page. Castiel Novak, born 7-24-1984 — making him 32 — from Pontiac, IL, and on the corner was the red F for familiar. The photo was grainy and it was hard to see but he looked handsome with dark hair and a sharp jaw. Dean’s familiar was Castiel Novak. He was in town and drove a pimpmobile. He was so powerful and so right that Dean had been catatonic for hours, tears spilling silently from his eyes at the onslaught of emotions. His familiar made his insides hot and warm like family and home and drenched his body in the feeling of freedom and nature all at once.

“I have a familiar, I don’t have to be broken anymore, I…. I don’t have to be alone.” Dean barely made it to the trash bin before he retched, his breakfast spewing into the metal tin.

It took Dean longer than he cared to admit to calm down and clean himself up. But eventually he was able to get himself under control enough that he could choke down his lunch and get back to work on the car. After the earlier, intense take-over of his body, he was able to sit in the car and figure out what was wrong. The problem wasn’t even anything big, but knowing the car belonged to his familiar, Dean did a full work up. He couldn’t have someone so important to him riding around in a death trap. He put on new wheels, fixed the window and the heater. He updated the wiring and replaced everything that looked old and frayed. By the time he was done, the shop was deserted again and the sun had been down for hours, but he didn’t care. He had a familiar, he even had his name and number now; he had his phone out ready to dial. If he could only bring himself to hit the call button. 

Instead he just stared at the number trying to think of what to say. This was big, this was huge. It was the first words he would ever say to someone who would spend the rest of his life with him. It would be the part of their story they would repeat to anyone who asked how they met. Adam had been cocky and flirty, asking Michael to shift right after their introduction. Gabriel had thrown himself into Sam’s arms and blurted out that he was riding his sasquatch ass into the sunset even before they got to tell each other their names. Dean had to play this right. He didn’t want to be flirty and wear a mask, but he didn’t want to leave himself bare. There would be time enough for that, right? His familiar had the rest of their lives to find out who Dean was in a way he never let anyone else know.

It was the beginning of the work week so Sam would be busy with paperwork, Gabe would be trying to distract him, and Adam and Michael were always in the office getting work done, so Dean knew he would have Cas to himself. “Screw it.” He hit the message button and put in his address inviting the other man over saying they needed to talk. The shop had Dean’s protective sigils around it. Even though Dean’s magic wasn’t as intense as it could be, no way could Castiel have walked in there without feeling something. He would know someone at the shop was his witch, and now it was on him to come to Dean.

Dean waited and waited, but Castiel still hadn’t shown up, or even replied, be the time his brothers returned home.

For the rest of the evening, Dean was on edge, to the point where the rest of the family were just watching him warily. He tried to act normal, but it was hard. Every time he heard a car out on the street, his head would snap up hoping it was his familiar. Which was ridiculous since Castiel’s car was still in the shop. He hadn’t said anything to the others, he wanted to keep it private and didn’t want them (mainly Gabriel) to take the attention away from Dean. 

By the time everyone went off to bed and the moon was high in the sky, Dean finally gave up on waiting. It wasn’t like Castiel ever wrote back agreeing to come or even to let him know that the message had been received. With a tired sigh, he made his way upstairs, peeling off his clothes before climbing into bed.

Dean closed his eyes, squeezing them shut so he wouldn’t have to think about the feeling of rejection wrapped around his heart. Cas didn’t write back. It might not be rejection, he kept telling himself. Maybe he just didn’t check his messages yet. 

Something large landed on his bed and Dean froze as he felt it walking over the blanket. It was larger than Gabe’s marten, but he relaxed as the feeling of spring rain in a field of grass settled over his body again. He didn’t feel that roaring fire but the coolness of the rain was there, calming him and making him want to sink deeper into the feeling of rightness. Soft fur slid over his arms as the bed dipped with each step from the creature—who he assumed was Castiel. He could feel paws on his back as the creature got on top of him. The weight of his familiar more grounding than heavy as he walked along his back then back to his side. His eyes stayed shut as he felt a cold nose press against his cheek, sniffing him. His nose wrinkled at the feeling of stiff whiskers brushing over it before he felt a rough tongue lick at his cheek. He blinked his eyes open and was shocked at the closeness, but soon focused on the sight of the bright blue eyes of his familiar. He turned over and sat up, eyeing the very large cat lying on his bed. Castiel was on his side, his jet black fur a sharp contrast to the cream color of the blanket.

“Hey, Cas.” Dean smiled as he ran his fingers through the soft, long fur of the Maine Coon, the sound of Castiel’s deep rumbling purr making him grin wider. “I’m Dean.”

Castiel opened his eyes, staring at him with an intensity that should have put Dean on edge but didn’t. He blinked slowly, letting his head loll back as Dean scratched under his chin. Cas’ purr was so strong Dean could feel the bed vibrate with the noise, making him want to pet his familiar even more. He scratched down the cat's chest, rubbing his fingertips into the soft fur of Cas belly, before the cat flipped over, arching his back as Dean stroked down from head to bushy tail.

“So I guess you like pettings, huh?” Dean asked and got a toothy meow in response. The open and honest smile on his face couldn’t be helped. This was what he needed, what he had always wanted but never believed he could have. “It’s okay. I like giving attention and I don’t mind pettings. Probably best you know now I’m not really big on PDA, but you never have to worry about me not giving you my all, okay, Cas?”

The cat climbed on his lap, arching up, and nuzzled his jaw in understanding. Dean pulled him in close—very much not cuddling because Dean didn’t cuddle ok?—and rested his head against his pillow. He didn’t ask why Cas hadn’t shifted yet. He figured maybe he was just shy and Dean was fine with that; he liked the idea of proving himself to his familiar. It sparked something primal in him to show Cas his worth. 

****

The next morning Dean was awoken by a cold nose pressed to his cheek, followed by a sandpaper tongue, before he felt the dip of the bed and heard the soft patter of paws heading across the room towards the window. He opened his eyes just in time to see a black, bushy tail disappear from the open window, the tree branch snapping back up into view a moment later. He probably should have panicked, what with his familiar leaving, but he saw his clothing freshly ironed and hanging on the door and his shoes and socks next to the chair. Dean smiled at the familiar-behaviour. Obviously, Cas wasn’t gone for good, he probably just had some things he had to do. Dean was needy, on this he could be honest, but he wasn’t going to smother Cas either.

The rest of the day passed by quietly. Dean decided to keep Cas from his family for a little while longer. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to show him off, but that he wanted to be greedy and keep Cas to himself just for a little while more. Unfortunately, his happy and upbeat mood was enough to put everyone on edge and have his brothers watch him with raised brows. He texted Cas to let him know that the pimpmobile was ready and he would stay later to make sure Cas got it but was waved off. 

**_Cas - There’s no need for you to stay there waiting. Actually it’s probably best that you aren’t there. I don’t want you to see my human form and fall so madly in love you force a connection with my animal half just to keep my sexiness around._ **

Dean had grinned wide reading the message, Cas was flirty and funny. He was feeling the kind of excitement he hadn’t felt since he started dating in college.

**_Dean - What makes you think I’ll be the one so in love that I’ll force the connection? You’re the giant cat! For all you know you’ve already fallen for my animal magnetism._ **

**_Cas - Har har har *eyeroll* You’re lucky you’re cute with an ass that won’t quit._ **

**_Dean - Shut up, I’m hilarious… You really like my ass?_ **

**_Cas - The things I want to do to that ass should be illegal, but I promise on my honor that you’ll enjoy it and beg for more_ **

Dean had to adjust his pants and take several breaths to calm down. He couldn’t just tug one out texting his familiar before he even got to see his face in person. Castiel had been right earlier and he deserved better than a horny witch.

**_Dean - We’re gonna put a pin in that until we finally get to see each other in person. I want to do this right with you and jumping into bed with you before knowing you isn’t how I want this to start. I gotta ask about your name, what’s with Castiel? Is it a family name or something? Is it okay if I call you Cas?_ **

**_Cas - I’m not Castiel. I’m Jimmy. Castiel was the cat in bed with you last night. Parents weren’t religious but it was a hard birth and they figured an angelic name would be lucky. So they went with Castiel, the angel of Thursday._ **

He frowned at the screen. Did Jimmy consider his cat self to be separate from his human half? That was strange, and he didn’t know any other familiar who thought like that, but he accepted it. Jimmy and Castiel were his and if he or they wanted to be called different names he would respect that. He changed the contact name before continuing.

**_Dean - Ok, sorry Jimmy._ **

**_Jimmy - It’s fine no worries. So who would you rather have over tonight. Me or Cas?_ **

**_Dean - Honestly I’m happy with either so long as you’re both comfortable with it._ **

**_Jimmy - That right there is the perfect answer. I think we’re going to get along great._ **

Dean’s chest swelled with pride, he was always a sucker for praise. That night Dean was more thorough in his bedtime routine and made sure the room was presentable. He wasn’t sure if Jimmy would be coming in his human form or his cat Cas form, but either way Dean was happy to have him near. Dean woke up hours later to the feel of soft fur snuggled under his chin and the feeling of a warm fire on a snowy day under his skin. He leaned back to get a better look at Cas and frowned. The cat looked different, but it was too dark in the room to tell properly. Sleepily, he let it go, and snuggled into the warm body, falling asleep easily.

Early the next morning, he woke up before his kitty familiar and frowned at the sight of the large cat with his head on Dean’s pillow.

The other night, he had been a black Maine Coon with thick soft fur and a deep purr that vibrated through the bed. Now though, Dean was looking at a definitively different cat. Where the Maine Coon had a large fluff of fur from under his chin down to his chest that looked like a beard, this cat had what could only be considered a mane of thick black fur around his head. His purr wasn’t as deep as the other night but it was still loud enough that Dean had fallen asleep comfortably to the sound. He didn’t recognize the breed right away, and while the feeling of being in spring rain was gone, the feeling of winter warmth was there.

He reached over and dug into the cat’s fur, enjoying the purr from his familiar as black lids opened to reveal bright cerulean blue eyes. He smiled at the cat as it nuzzled his fingers, nipping them lightly before turning over so Dean was scratching his back. 

“Needy kitty.” His tone was full of affection for his feline familiar.

The cat stretched into an arch, his claws poking at Dean’s pillow without ripping it. He needed to know what kind of cat Jimmy had turned himself into. He was a witch with a familiar who apparently could turn into two different species of cat. As much as Dean thought of himself as a failure, he wouldn’t subject Jimmy or Cas the cat to having such a fuck up for a witch that he didn’t even know their breed.

“I’ll be right back, okay? Just stay here and make yourself comfortable.” Dean quickly got off the bed, careful that the mattress didn’t throw the cat off with a bounce.

He knocked softly on his brother’s bedroom door, not realizing until he heard the shuffle of feet on the floor that maybe it was too early to be waking up his youngest sibling. The door opened before he could turn and go back to his room and he stood face to face with Michael.

“Dean? Is everything alright?” Michael whispered as his eyes roamed over Dean in concern, as though he could find out what was wrong just by looking at him.

“Uh, yeah, everything’s fine. I needed a book.” Dean tried to keep his voice low, hoping it would hide any embarrassment he was feeling.

Michael looked at him, his brows pulled together in confusion. “Sam has many interesting books. I particularly like the one where a telepathic waitress in Louisiana meets and falls in love with a charming vampire and have many interesting adventures. I’m told it was made into a television show but I’m still two books away from the end of the series and I don’t want to be spoiled.”

“What? No, this isn’t for fun. I need to do some research on something.” Dean fought back the urge to wince when Michael seemed to look at him with a more calculating look. This was not going well and Dean had to get this back on track before Michael figured out there was another familiar in the house. “I need the animal familiar book, you know the one Adam uses to find the exact breed when kids first shift?” Judging by the wide eyes of the owl-familiar, Dean guessed he wasn’t any level of covert.

“Dean, that book holds every single species of animal that ever existed save for the dinosaurs. That includes reptiles, amphibians, even fish. To give you the full book would cause it to crash through the floor and not stop until it was deep in the Earth,” Michael rolled his eyes. Dean bit his lip, embarrassed. He knew better, but it was too early in the morning.

“It’s fine, I just need to look for something specific, I know the spell to narrow the book down.”

Michael winced in surprise. “Dean, you know you can’t practice that type of spell work without a familiar to channel the magic through. Using protection symbols are one thing, but actual spells could cause harm to you, this house, even this whole street if you let your magic run unchecked like that.” His eyes turned soft as he placed a hand on Dean’s shoulder. “You will find your familiar one day, Dean, I have no doubt of that, but until then I would be proud to use my magic to help you. I will shorten the book. Now what species did you need?”

Dean stumbled over his words. Of course, Michael didn’t know Dean had found his familiar and talking so openingly about practicing magic—how could Dean make such an error? Luckily, it had been Michael he said it in front of and not one of his brothers. Sam especially would have been on his back for weeks. 

“You really don’t have to do that, Michael, but I appreciate it.”

“It is not a problem, Dean.” Michael gave him a wide grin, his hunter green eyes lighting up white. “We’re family, and family sticks together. You Winchesters taught me that.”

Dean ducked to hide his burning face. “Thanks, uh, I wanted to look up cats. Big cats but not like lions or leopards or anything like that. Just big house cats, like Maine Coons and anything else that size.”

“That’s pretty simple, and oddly specific, but alright. Stay here. Adam is asleep and I doubt you want to see him like this.”

“I’ve seen my brother naked before, but yeah, no thanks.”

“He’s not naked, but he is dressed in a…. You know what? Just stay here.” Michael turned from the door and Dean chose to forget everything said in the last twenty seconds for his own mental health. 

In moments Michael was back with a much smaller tome than what Dean had originally come for. “Thanks, Mike.”

“It’s no problem, Dean. Get some sleep.”

“Yeah, right away.” He turned and waited until he heard the snap of the lock on his brother’s door before running back to his own room. He breathed a sigh of relief at seeing the cat on his bed. It hadn’t been until he was getting back into the room that he had panicked at the thought of his familiar abandoning him in his absence.

“Hey, sorry for the wait.” He raised the leather-bound book in the air. “Had to get something from my little brother. Well, his familiar gave it to me, my brother was sleeping.”

The cat blinked his too blue eyes at him before laying back down on the pillow, nuzzling his face against it. Dean bit back a smile, realizing the cat approved of his scent, and vowed to pour out all his colognes.

When he sat back on the bed, he found himself with a lap full of cat, but didn’t mind. He just opened the book while his free hand petted the soft fur. He catalogued the differences between the two cats as he went through the different pages of the book searching for the cat on him. Jimmy had told him earlier that Castiel was the cat who had come over, but that was a Maine Coon, and the cat on his bed now was a different breed. He didn’t want to call him Cas, in case he offended his familiar, but he just wasn’t sure what was going on. He frowned, lost in thought and the cat smacked his hand with his large paw, annoyed that Dean had stopped his fur stroking for deep thought.

“Sorry.” He ducked his head to hide a smile before continuing to stroke the long dark fur.

Jimmy had mentioned that it had been a difficult birth, and it wasn’t unheard of for a familiar to shift while in the birth canal. Maybe shifting into two different species was what made the birth so rough? Dean decided to go back to looking through the book that was still on the page with Maine Coons. He flipped it a few times but didn’t see anything the size or look of the cat in his lap. 

The cat looked up and eyed the book before sitting up. He used both of his paws to knock the book out of Dean’s hand and onto the floor. A cuss-filled reprimand died on Dean’s tongue as he watched the pages quickly turn before stopping at the information for a Norwegian Forest cat. Dean picked the book up gingerly as the cat sat on his pillow, his back straightened, posed like an Egyptian cat god. 

“You’re a Norwegian Forest cat?” His inquiry only got a soft meow in response. He continued reading the description, noting the similarities between the book and the cat next to him. “Males can grow to be greater than 12 pounds. Their social and attention needs are high.” He raised a brow to the cat. “Well that’s one hundred percent true, right there.” He chuckled at the cat’s responding grumble.

“Tendency to shed is high in the cat, but a powerful enough familiar can keep his fur from shedding.” He gave his bed a passing glance noting how there was no dark cat hair to be found. Even the night before, Cas or Jimmy hadn’t left any fur on his bed. “The Norwegian Forest cat is sweet and loving and likes attention and praise from its owner. The familiar is much the same way and both are very strong and have a strong connection to the warrior heritage of the cat form. You a fighter, Novak?” The cat leaned up on its hind legs, moving his front paws like he was trying to box. Dean laughed and had to cover his mouth, afraid his brothers would hear. “Okay, okay. I believe you, Rocky.”

His eyes landed on the alarm next to his bed and he groaned at the time. It probably wouldn’t pay to go back to sleep, but he had to try, regardless of how much he wanted to stay up and get to know his familiar and his apparent double animal forms.

“Listen, I have to get another couple hours sleep, but you don’t have to leave, okay? Feel free to stay. I don’t mind.” The cat gave him a look that Dean could only take to mean, “Of course I’m staying, you idiot.”

Laying on his stomach, Dean got himself comfortable. The feeling of a large cat walking down his back and rolling himself into a ball on his butt made him chuckle but he didn’t move. “Night, Novak”

A rumble of a purr vibrated over his ass, but he ignored it for the deep call of sleep.

When he awoke to his alarm a few hours later, Dean found himself alone in the room again, his clothes pressed and hanging off the chair ready for him. But this time he saw a pair of pink lace panties laying on his pants and he blushed that Jimmy had found them. He knew with the way they had flirted, that they would more than likely end up in a sexual relationship, so he didn’t let it bother him that Jimmy found his stash—especially since he seemed to approve. 

It was the next morning that things began to get weird. The Maine Coon spent the night with him, the loud, deep rumbling purr sending Dean into an easy, restful sleep. Which was how he was able to wake up before the cat and pick out his own clothes. Not that he would have minded Novak picking another pair of panties for him but, the hard-on he’d had the entire day had made work nearly unbearable. This would be for the best. 

Dean had just finished his shower when he caught the cat walking out of his room and down the hall towards the stairs. In a panic, Dean ran to scoop him up before hightailing it back to his room. He slammed the door shut and locked it behind him. He dropped the cat on the bed. Curious blue eyes stared into him making him fidget nervously under the intense scrutiny. 

“Look, I’m sorry, okay? But I haven’t told the others about us yet. I just need more time.” He petted the cat's head and smiled when Novak nuzzled his palm. “I just want you to myself right now. If I tell them, I’ll have to share, and they’ll interrogate you, and Adam will want to run tests on you.”

The cat let out a confused meow and Dean backtracked to figure out what he said wrong. He realized he had never told his familiar about his brothers’ jobs. “Oh sorry, Adam is my youngest brother. He’s the town doctor and handles all of the familiars in town. Sam is the middle child, a giant sasquatch of a child, and he’s a lawyer. But, he’s a good lawyer—you know, fights for the little guy. He’s not one of those douchebag lawyers who rob people.” 

Dean hated being so open. Usually he relied on his charm and flirty smile to get his way, but this was important. Jimmy or Cas or whatever he wanted to be called was important. “I’ll tell them about you soon. Just give me some time, please? In case this...in case we don’t work out. I couldn’t bear to have them look at me with even more pity than they do now.”

Novak leaned up and licked the tip of Dean’s nose, making him chuckle. 

Before his brothers got up, Dean watched the Maine Coon make his escape, climbing down the tree right outside his window. 

The rest of the day passed much like the day before: Dean went to work, texted Jimmy during his breaks, came home to eat with his family and didn’t mention a word to them about his familiar. He tried hard to not choke down his food just to run upstairs and get ready for his familiar’s nightly visit. Instead, he forced himself to make small talk with his brothers. He ignored Gabriel, and was grateful to Michael for never bringing up the morning he came for the book. 

After dessert, he made sure to give it back to the owl when he caught Michael alone. Michael had asked if he found what he was looking for, and it was only due to Michael not being able to read Dean as easily as his brothers that he didn’t realize how questionable his grin actually was.

That night Dean fell asleep with a Norwegian Forest cat and woke up to said cat kneading his belly. He frowned. Sure, he knew he had put on a little weight, but he didn’t think it was that bad. He yanked his shirt down as the kneading had caused it to rise up. But Novak wouldn’t accept it and started digging his head under the shirt, rubbing and licking Dean’s belly until the green-eyed man was crying for mercy against the tickling. 

“Okay okay, enough. Novak, you win.” The cat popped his head out and let out a proud meow that had Dean chuckling as he wiped his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, all hail to you.”

The cat climbed up to Dean’s shoulder and laid his body down so it pressed against his witch’s side. Dean buried his face in the dark fur, fighting back a smile. This was what he wanted, every day. Regardless of which cat Jimmy chose to be, this was what made him happiest. 

There was still a part of his brain telling him something was missing, Hell even his dreams felt like they were trying to hint at something, but for the life of him he could never remember it once he woke up. He pressed his lips to the cat's head before heading out to the shower, chuckling at the lazy meow he got in response. For a giant hunter— _ hunters _ , Castiel really seemed to enjoy acting like a lap cat. 

Coming back from the bathroom, Dean caught the sight of a black bushy tail making its way downstairs—the smell of cooking bacon had probably called to the familiar. In a panic, he found himself once more running to grab the cat up from the stairs and then back up to his room, ignoring his brothers calling his name. He slammed and locked the door before glaring at his familiar, now sitting on the bed, licking his fur where Dean had ruffled it.

“What do you think you’re doing? I thought you understood that I wanted to wait?” Dean hissed at him, gripping his still wet hair in his hand. “I told you I wasn’t ready to tell the others about you yet.”

The cat tilted his head to the side, blinking up at his witch. Even though Novak couldn’t talk back while in cat form, Dean had gotten very good at reading his body language and the aura surrounding him. He knew Novak was confused and that fact made Dean confused too. He had told Novak yesterday that he wasn’t ready to tell the others about them. He knew he had. So why was his familiar acting like this was new information?

The cat seemed to come to his own conclusion and made a show of sniffing the bacon scented air before before letting out a low meow. Dean took the warning; if he didn’t go and feed his familiar, the next noise would be loud, and that would call his brothers and their familiars upstairs. 

“Okay, okay, I’m going. No shouting. Bacon isn’t even good for cats, you know?” Dean quickly put on a pair of boxers under his towel, making sure to not expose himself to the cat. Yes, the animal was actually a man and part human, but there was a line Dean would not cross. The cat grumbled and showed his long fangs as if to remind Dean he was not a house pet but a hunter. The thought made the witch much happier than he would ever admit.

Dean dashed downstairs, grabbed some food, and raced back upstairs while juggling the plate and dodging his family's questions. Adam just watched with confusion and a look Dean knew meant he would be cornered and interrogated by his youngest brother later. Once in the bedroom, he picked up some bread, throwing an egg and bacon pieces onto it for himself, before giving the rest of the plate to the cat. He wanted to talk to Novak more, maybe even feed him more, but he had to get to work. Stuffing his mouth to chipmunk levels, he finished getting dressed and scratched the back of Novak’s neck.

“Stay in this room until you want to head back to wherever you’re staying.” He waved a finger at the cat wanting him to focus and know he was serious. “Do not let my brothers or their familiars see you, I’m serious. This is all that I’m asking from you; give me time to do this myself.”

The cat gave a rumbling purr as he rubbed his side against Dean’s pant leg. Dean chuckled before bending to place a kiss on the top of Novak’s head. “Glad we got an understanding. Stay out of trouble, Novak.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel and Michael play spy and learn things even Dean doesn't yet know. A family dinner makes everyone's emotions run high and expose some truths. Living together makes it hard to have alone time and hide relationships.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for secrets to be reveled and some NSFW loving.

Gabriel chuckled, holding the small pouch filled with magical explosives. He didn’t know what had been going on with Dean lately, but he figured he must be having some extra-special hand-to-flesh action to warrant how quickly he was running upstairs after dinner every night. Oh sure, some nights he stayed up spending time with everyone, but Gabriel was sure that Dean was probably so lonely that he was hitting up the cam-girl sites and spending his income on getting Bunny to speak Spanish or something. Gabe would never begrudge anyone some alone time, but this was nightly, and honestly, he cared about Dean and wanted him to go out and find someone, not be locked in his room with tissue and lotion. He had decided to use a spell bag that would explode next time Dean was masturbating and close to coming, covering the room in pink glitter confetti and white streamers shaped like sperm.

He quietly made his way down the hall, making sure to not alert the others that he was going into Dean’s room. Especially Michael—he really hated the stern talking to he was always getting from the older familiar. He opened the door, quickly sliding in and closing the door with his back. He froze at the sight of a very large black cat sitting on the bed, frozen above the gleaming, empty plate from Dean’s breakfast. The cat eyed him and Gabe fought his instinct to shift out of fright. The cat was large enough to do damage to his human form; in animal form Gabe would be killed. 

The cat’s bright blue eyes narrowed at him as he stared back, unable to move from fear of the large feline. They stared at each other for what felt like hours before the cat finally blinked, turned, and jumped to the open window sill. He turned back, growling at Gabriel before jumping to the tree branch. 

Gabe breathed out a sigh of relief before leaping to the window. He caught sight of the cat running down the street before cutting through Mrs. Ashli’s vegetable garden and disappearing. Gabe turned, taking in the room he hadn’t been in in days, and realized the air was thick with magic. The cat was a familiar. Dean had found his familiar. 

Gabe’s shoulders slumped, realizing Dean didn’t trust him enough to tell him that he had found his familiar. He hadn’t told anyone. “Holy shit. He kept this from Sam and Adam,” Gabe said to himself in disbelief.

His mind replayed all of Dean’s strange antics and how he always waved everyone off if they tried to talk to him. This familiar had been coming here for days, and Dean must have had a lot of trust in him to leave him alone in the room while he left for work. Which wouldn’t be unusual, if the familiar in question was Dean’s true familiar, and not some booty call from a bar. Gabriel frowned, knowing that Dean never trusted anyone more than his brothers and if he didn’t tell them about this familiar, but allowed him to be in his room unsupervised, it had to be because something sinister was going on.

Moving quickly, he ran downstairs to the back office where Michael was sitting at his desk looking over some papers. Gabe slammed the door shut before launching himself at the older man, throwing himself onto the table and gripping his shirt, pulling him up to meet Gabe’s eye as papers flew everywhere.

“Dean is under a spell. We have to rescue him.”

Michael had been frozen in complete shock since Gabriel slammed the door and it took him a few moments to register what was going on. Once he did, he blinked back his surprise and forced Gabe’s hands off him, struggling to get the younger familiar to stop trying to grab him. “Gabriel, what is wrong with you? Calm down before I sedate you.”

“Dean is bewitched, cursed, spellbound, under an evil cat thrall.” A whimper left his mouth as Michael finally pushed him off the table and his feet hit the floor with a thud. 

“What in the name of the absent gods are you talking about, Gabriel? Why do you think Dean has been hexed?” Michael shook out his shoulders, clearly resisting the urge to shift and raise his wings high in an aggressive display at the thought of someone coming after a member of their family.

“I went into Dean’s room—”

“You know you aren’t supposed to go into his room,” Michael interrupted, but Gabe only shrugged.

“Anyway, I went into his room and there was a giant familiar cat in there eating Dean’s breakfast. He gave me an evil death glare and ran out when I went after him.”

Michael raised a slick dark brow, he stared down at the smaller man knowing full well how much Gabe liked to embellish stories to make them more entertaining. “You went after a giant cat familiar?”

“Ok, well,” Gabriel’s face turned red knowing he had been caught. “Maybe I didn’t go after it until it was out the window. But it was dark and evil and menacing and Dean has been keeping it from Sam. From Sam, Michael!”

A memory of an early morning knock came to the owl familiar. Dean had come to his and Adam’s room needing the familiar book, asking for the large cat section. As much as it pained him, it seemed Gabriel might have been honest about that part and Dean had been lying to them all. “If Dean found his familiar then it’s a cause for celebration. It’s a good thing, Gabe. Hell, it’s a great thing. It means his magic can finally flourish and he can use it to its fullest extent.”

“Yeah, if it is his familiar. I mean think about it; he’s been acting strange, hiding it in his room, feeding it in secret, not telling even his brothers, who he trusts more than anyone, about it. That’s not Dean. This cat could be bad news, Michael. Let’s not forget how powerful Dean could be, and this familiar could be draining him for some evil purpose.”

“Familiar draining is a myth, Gabriel. There is no evidence that it ever existed.” Michael rolled his eyes but he was listening. The draining part might be false, but there  _ were  _ dangers in an unknown familiar possibly bespelling the eldest Winchester.

“Michael, look I... I know I can be a pain, and I start a lot of crap, but I don’t want Dean hurt or used. I can’t just sit around and wait for something bad to happen, to him or us. Especially since I doubt any new familiars came to the clinic for a check up. For all we know, it has some familiar killing virus, and yeah, maybe we should go to Adam and Sam, but this is my family dammit and I am not going to let danger come near them without a fight.” Gabriel’s eyes nearly glowed gold with righteous anger, stunning the other man.

“Alright.” Michael turned, grabbing his jacket and shrugging it on before walking around a shocked Gabriel. “Come on. Let’s go before the trail gets cold.”

The pair stopped in Dean’s room first to get the biggest fill of the cat’s scent that they could. Michael was in his snowy owl form, his keen eyes searching the room for any clues to the intruder's identity. Gabriel was in his marten form, his small ferret-like body slinking along the floor of the room filling his nose with the scent of the unfamiliar familiar. Gabriel struggled for longer than he would have liked trying to get the scent. It was strange, with overlapping aromas, and he made annoyed grunting sounds at being unable to figure out the weird smells. Once Gabriel indicated he was confident that he could find the familiar’s scent outside, Michael picked him up.

It was a struggle for Gabe to accept being flown out of the window by Michael. He knew realistically that Mike was practically his brother and would never hurt him, but the animal in him still recognized the owl as a predator. He had never been so grateful that Mrs. Williams’ vegetable garden was so close to their house as he was when they landed and Mike let him go to follow the trail. 

***

Michael flew up onto a nearby tree branch so he could keep an eye on Gabe and watch in case the cat was still close by. 

The sound of soft squeaks alerted Michael to the large bush of tomatoes near the back. Gabe stood up on his hind legs, his reddish-brown fur standing out against the green of the garden. He let out another squeak before turning around and running off. Michael spread his wings wide and took to the sky, tucking his legs underneath him as his long white feathers sailed through the air. His eyes easily followed Gabriel, watching him quickly slinking along the grass and between the planks of their neighbors’ fences. Michael kept himself high enough that he could watch Gabriel without casting a shadow, knowing the marten would get spooked as though being chased by a predator. 

In moments they passed their street, then another and another. A turn here, a turn there, across the park, and past the diner, until they found themselves standing in front of the nicer of the town’s two motels.

Michael flew around the building, noting that there appeared to be only two occupants in the motel. When he landed next to Gabriel, they shared a look before shifting, and made their way to a window. Inside the room were two handsome men in the middle of what looked to be an argument. Both men were identical to each other except for the clothes they wore. The one in a black band tee was on the bed, his hand pulling his hair in a tight grip, as the other man in a button-up stood above him, his arms moving around as he yelled. Michael had little doubt the one being yelled at was the one Gabriel had found in Dean’s room and the other must have been yelling because he got caught. As much as he was loath to admit it, it was looking more and more like Gabriel’s fear may have been well-founded. 

“See, I told you! And there’s two of them! Probably planning something evil right now, and look at all their stuff.” Gabriel hissed nodding towards the other side of the room where there were several suitcases and duffel bags. “What if they’ve been stealing money from Dean? Think about how much money he’s got that they could get by hexing him and getting him to claim them. They’re evil. We should go in there and show them what happens when you mess with the Winchester family.”

“Gabriel, we did not come here to have a fist fight in a motel room,” Michael whispered back.

“Who said anything about using fists? We’re actually claimed, and by two powerful witches. Even with two of them, they can’t equal our power. I say we have a good ol’ fashion power-off.” Gabriel’s eyes nearly glowed with glee. Sam never let him use his magic for a fight but Gabe knew Sam would approve if it was to protect their family.

“We are not having a power-off with them. We’ll go in there and get to the bottom of this, without intentionally trying to fight. They wanna go, then we’ll go but we won’t go in looking for a fight,” Michael responded.

“Well, that’s good, we’d hate to have to lay you two out for your witches to sweep up.” Both men turned to see the twins were now beside them, next to the open door to their room. The one in the band tee smirked at them, his arms crossed over his chest as the other one glowered at them. “I mean, we don’t hold much water when it comes to what witches think, but Dean wouldn’t be happy, and regardless of what you said, we wouldn’t do anything to hurt or upset him.”

Gabriel leapt in front of Michael glaring up at the twins, the anger rolling off him making him seem larger despite the height difference. “Oh yeah, you care about Dean so much? Then why did you put him under your thrall?” Gabriel nearly yelled at them.

The twins shared a confused look before the one in the band tee rolled his eyes and they both headed back into the room. The one in the button-up called back to them with a deeper voice than his brother, “Just come in so we can actually get to the bottom of this, before you come up with any wilder accusations.”

“I can make wilder accusations if I want to!” Gabe called back as he stomped into the room, missing the way that Michael shook his head before following along.

“Alright, who are you? What are you doing here? What do you want with Dean?” Michael asked, ticking off his fingers.

“And what spell did you use on him to make him your slave?” Gabriel chimed in.

“We didn’t use any spell on Dean, nor would we ever,” the button-up twin answered. “I’m Castiel, this is my twin brother James.”

“Usually I only let people I like call me Jimmy, but since Dean is going to want us to get along I’ll allow it.” Jimmy glared at Gabriel.

“I’m Michael and this is Gabriel. We’re the familiars of Dean’s younger brothers, which you already know.”

“Yes, Dean has talked about you all many times,” Castiel said with a fond look.

Michael’s head tilted to the side as he looked at both twins, trying to calculate what could be going on. “So, you didn’t bespell Dean?”

“No, we would never do that to him,” Jimmy grumbled in frustration. He really didn’t like repeating himself.

“Alright, well then, what is going on? Which one of you was at our house and had been hiding in Dean’s room?”

“Yeah, hiding and probably hexing him,” Gabriel accused them, pointing a finger at Jimmy.

“Alright, that’s it!” Jimmy let out a growl before shifting to his Norwegian forest cat form. He ran off the bed, leaping up to land on Gabriel, knocking him on his back. Gabriel cried out and shifted. They began to chase each other, swiping with their claws when they were close enough.

Michael grabbed Castiel by his elbow and led him out of the room so the other two could just work it out of their systems. “Jimmy wouldn’t try and eat him, right?”

Castiel closed the door behind them. “No, but Gabriel’s accusations have taken their toll. He’s going to want to hurt him, but he won’t kill him. You have to understand, Michael, Dean chose to keep this a secret. He didn’t want his brothers or anyone else involved. That doesn’t mean we’re using him for his money, or casting spells, or any of the like.”

Michael nodded, ignoring the sounds of howling and a lamp breaking behind the door. He would have to send the motel owner the money for the damages since it really was Gabriel’s fault. “Dean is very complex. You have to understand, he has always been very close to his brothers and finding out that he has a familiar and has kept it hidden, that’s not a normal behavior from him.”

“This isn’t a normal situation, and Dean had stopped believing he would even find his familiar. You can’t just judge Dean by things he’s done in other situations because it holds no bearing on this. Dean is a complex man, just like you said, and it stands to reason he would want things, or do things, that are outside of what others expect from him. Especially when they don’t know him as intimately as his own familiar would.”

Michael nodded, knowing Castiel had a point. He could still hear the fighting and furniture breaking inside. A crash let him know there was probably a broken door in there somewhere. Jimmy’s aggression and loyalty reminded him of Dean, and Michael couldn’t say that the pair weren’t a good match. But, listening to Castiel, Michael was saddened that it wasn’t the calmer, more mature twin who was Dean’s familiar. He seemed responsible and level-headed and could also have made a good match.

‘It’s too bad he can’t have two familiars,’ Michael thought to himself before speaking up again. “How about I buy you a cup of coffee until those two finish hashing things out?”

The corner of Castiel’s lips lifted into a small half smile, “I would like that very much. Especially since my wallet is inside and I don’t feel like fighting our brothers for it.”

******

Dean had spent half the morning with his head under a hood and his thoughts on his familiar. Considering the week he had been having, that wasn’t unexpected, but the strange way Cas had been acting that morning was. Dean was sure the previous morning Cas had understood how much Dean just wanted to keep their relationship to themselves before having to bring it up to his family. Cas had agreed, or at least it had seemed that way. Then that morning Cas had run out again, but this time he looked completely taken aback by Dean’s reaction. He tried to make sense of it. How could Jimmy or Cas or whatever name he preferred, just forget what Dean had told him from one form to the next?

The closest to an answer he could come up with had been that maybe it was tied to the familiar’s animal body. Maybe what was said to the Maine Coon wouldn’t be remembered by the Norwegian Forest cat? He wasn’t sure, and the only way to know was to man up and talk to Jimmy to get to the bottom of it.

Or, he could instead go to his younger brother and bother him at work; ask him questions he may not have the answers to, and avoid even so much as texting his familiar. 

“Hey, Sam.” 

Dean placed the takeout bag full of food from their Aunt Ellen’s restaurant on the table. He wasted no time separating the trays of food between them as Sam looked on in confusion.

“Uh, hey, Dean. What are you doing here?” Sam asked as he pulled the styrofoam box closer after shutting his laptop.

“What, a big brother can’t visit his little brother at work?” Dean tried to sound nonchalant, but even to his own ears he failed. He took a look at his brother in a white button-up shirt and his blazer hanging on the rack behind him. Usually when Sam was dressed so informally it meant he didn’t have court that day. “So, where’s Gabe? Figured he would be here with you.”

“Is that why you didn’t bring him a plate too?” Sam said with a knowing smile. Dean just shrugged before taking a bite of his burger. “Gabe was off with Mike by the time I was ready to head out for work. I’ll see him at home or he’ll come over before I leave so we can head home together.”

“You’re not worried? Gabe tends to get himself into trouble even with you around.”

“Michael is his big brother, he’ll keep him from going too far.”

Dean grinned across the table. “So you admit you’ve got no control of the weasel,” he teased.

Sam threw back a mischievous grin of his own. “When he takes my cock as nicely as he does, yeah, I’ll let him get away with a lot of things, Dean.”

Dean cried out, rubbing his eyes as though he could physically force the visual out of his head as Sam threw back his head laughing. Dean complained and groaned about needing brain bleach but he had said and done worse to both his brothers, so he knew he didn’t have much of a leg to stand on. They continued eating their food and making small talk as Sam tried to not-so-discreetly get Dean to talk about his feelings, which Dean, in typical emotionally stunted fashion, shutdown.

“What’chu up to?” Dean pointed at the closed laptop with his chin.

“Bela tried to make an appointment to come in with Balthazar. I told her we can do all the paperwork over email to keep her from coming in,” Sam responded with a put-upon sigh, and Dean knew better than to make a joke. Sam looked far too tired and he could read his brother well enough to know this was serious.

“Everything okay? I mean can you talk about it, or attorney-client privilege?”

“Well anything could fall under privilege, but no, this will go on all public records. She just wanted to set Balthazar up with her accounts and put him as co-owner of her shop. Legally claim him as her familiar, you know?”

“Then what’s going on for you to look so stressed out? She can’t be so rich that you have to handle millions of bucks or anything.”

Sam chuckled and rolled his eyes. Yeah, Bela would love to have that much money, but she wasn’t anywhere near there. “No, it’s just Bela is still hitting on me and trying to find a reason to come see me. I was hoping her and Balthazar were going to have more of a personal relationship so she would leave me alone, but turns out they aren’t interested in each other like that.”

Dean shrugged. “Hey, not everyone wants to bang or marry their familiar. I mean, mom and dad loved Cain and Colette, but definitely not like that. ‘Sides, I honestly think, while she does think you’re hot, this is more about her image and making sure no one finds out how scared she is of Gabe and the asskicking she got.”

Sam bit back a smile, trying not to laugh at someone’s misfortune. “You think so?”

“I know so. Come on, have I ever been wrong about women?”

Sam rolled his eyes, but smiled in agreement. Dean knew that, while he was wrong about many things, he was usually good at figuring out people and their motives, and not just women. But Sam knew him well enough to know if he said anything touchy-feely like that out loud, Dean would shut down. He really was grateful that Sam knew when to shut up sometimes. He was even more grateful when Sam gave him an opening to talk… without really talking. “So other than bringing me Aunt Ellen’s cooking and my fantastic company, what brings you by?”

Dean made a show of obnoxiously drinking the last of his soda through his straw. He didn’t want to tell Sam about Jimmy or Cas but he wanted info and he had to watch how he phrased things. “Nah, like you said, fantastic company. But, going back to Bela and these contracts, I’m wondering how does it work?”

Sam’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean? You’ve signed as a witness for both Adam and I. You know how it works, Dean.”

“No, no, I mean I know how it worked for you guys but like—” He leaned forward, putting his arms on the table, and started tapping Sam’s pen against the wood nervously. “Okay, you know how the papers have to specify what kind of animal familiar the person is? And how, as the witch you take responsibility for any and all damages the animal might do? What if a familiar could turn into two animals. Like what would the paperwork look like then? And would you have to change your accounts and will to cover both forms?”

Dean fought to not fidget under Sam’s #21 bitchface which was coincidentally also his “Are you stupid?” face.

“Familiars only have one form, Dean.”

“No, I mean I get that’s how it is usually, but I mean, what if there was a familiar who could turn into two separate animals. Maybe the same class of animal but just a different version of it?”

“No, that would be impossible. Familiars can only, ever, in the history of magic, shift into one animal.”

“Hey, just because you haven’t met a familiar who could, doesn’t mean it’s impossible.” Dean threw back, annoyed that his brother wasn’t listening and answering the original question.

“No, I’m flat out telling you, Dean.” Sam’s voice started taking on a harder tone at the implication of him not knowing something he’d studied for years. “Since the beginning of magic when witches first started writing their history, which was several thousand years before regular humans figured out how to write a word, there has never been a familiar who could shift into more than one animal.”

“Fine, then humor me Sam. What would a witch need to do to claim their familiar if such a person actually existed?”

“Well, set in the world of complete fiction, because such a thing could never exist in the real world, I guess all the paperwork would be the same and the witch would have to sign two copies of the same contract just naming each animal,” Sam bit back.

Dean didn’t want to keep arguing with his brother so he got up and dumped his containers in the garbage. “Nice chat, Samantha, I gotta get back to work.” He threw open the door and jumped back seeing Sam’s co-worker, Crowley MacLeod, standing right in the doorway. “Damnit, Crowley, stop sneaking around.”

“Unlike you, I actually work here, Squirrel,” Crowley responded. 

Dean glared at the man, not trusting that he was outside his brother’s door, possibly listening into the conversation. He had no proof, but he always felt Crowley was dangerous. But as he had no powers and wasn’t a registered witch, Dean had no right to petition to kick him out of the town. He left after a staredown with the Scotsman and headed back to the shop. On the drive back, he decided one, that Sam was a prissy, know-it-all little bitch who was going to be shocked when he met Jimmy, and two, that he was over keeping Jimmy from his family. Before walking back in, he sent out a quick text asking Jimmy if he would like to come to dinner that night to meet Dean and the others. Jimmy’s reply came quickly and he agreed, even offering to bring some wine. 

“Just like pulling off a band aid,” Dean grumbled to himself before getting back to work.

***

Sam and Adam leaned against the far wall and watched their oldest brother run back and forth from the kitchen to the dining room, setting up the table for a family dinner. Both brothers had gotten texts from Dean that afternoon telling them they were going to have a family dinner that night, where they would meet a special guest. The brothers were instantly on edge; Dean was friendly and an extrovert but even in his longest and most serious romantic relationships he never organized a family dinner. Adding to that the fact that neither even knew he might be dating someone, had the brothers watching Dean and giving him accusing looks, but he paid them no mind.

Gabriel and Michael came downstairs, Michael dressed sharply in black slacks and a dress shirt that brought out his eyes. Gabriel was wearing his yellow pants with brown shirt and his feet bare, making Dean grumble and try to step on Gabe’s toes whenever he walked past him. 

“You couldn’t look nice for once, really?” Dean mumbled as he finished setting an extra place at the table near his seat.

Gabriel popped a sucker into his mouth, smiling around the cherry candy. “Nope.”

Michael looked over the table. Only seeing six places set, he tilted his head in confusion. “Um, Dean? Aren’t you missing one?”

Dean raised a brow at the other man. “No, I’m only expecting one person over. And, I want all of you, Gabriel, on your best behavior.”

Michael and Gabriel shared a look before both men split up to grab an extra, seventh chair to add to the table while the other put down another place setting. Gabriel rolled his eyes and mumbled something under his breath but no one asked.

“So, who exactly are we expecting?” Adam asked right before the doorbell rang. Dean ignored him, and jumped to answer it.

The others crowded the foyer trying to see through the door as Dean opened it. The Winchesters all stood surprised at finding two handsome, identical men on their porch. Both men wore matching dress pants and shoes but different colored shirts. One had his hair in disarray like he had just finished running his fingers through it, while the other was only slightly messy but at least looked like he had tried to comb it down. Their eyes were a bright cerulean blue that shined under the porch light. They both had shy smiles as they looked at Dean, who was too shocked to even let them in.

Dean’s eyes were wide, and if he could have opened his mouth, he had no doubt his jaw would have hit the ground. He looked from one man to the other, unsure of what to think. If they had been wearing the same shirt he would have blamed the double vision on the beer he’d had earlier. But no, there were twins on his porch, handsome twins, but still there were two of them and he wasn’t sure what to do.

“Deano, you planning on letting them in?” Gabe asked, annoyed to see the twins again but even he knew they needed to be inside to get this over with. He still didn’t trust that this wasn’t some evil spell; no witch had two familiars, and even if Dean’s true familiar were  _ one  _ of them, they proved themselves untrustworthy in his eyes.

Dean moved to the side, allowing the brothers to come in. The one with the somewhat-combed hair passed Dean a bottle of wine.

“Hey, Dean, I’m Jimmy.” He nodded towards his brother. “And this is Castiel.”

“Hello, Dean.” Cas gave Dean a soft smile and that seemed to wake him up from his stupor. 

“Oh shit yeah, hi—uh—hi guys. It’s great to uh, it’s really great to meet you in hu—uh—human forms,” Dean stammered nervously. 

“So, who are your friends, Dean?” Sam asked, his eyes on the guests who were far more focused on Dean’s red face than any of the rest of them. 

“Oh yeah uh—well they are uh,” Dean couldn't answer, he had planned to introduce Jimmy and his two Cas cat forms to his family, but now there were two human twins and he had no idea which one was his familiar. 

“Dean,” Jimmy said, his smile kind and understanding as he went to Dean’s left side while his brother went to the right. “It’s alright.”

The twins both touched Dean’s arms letting the magic inside of him flow through them and back to him in an endless loop between the three of them. Dean’s eyes fluttered shut, enjoying the feeling of completeness he hadn't felt since the first day he worked on the Continental. Jimmy was a warm cabin with a roaring fire during Christmas, Cas a spring rain in an empty field out in the country. Two feelings that shouldn't go together somehow worked to make Dean feel like he was home. 

“It’s alright, Dean,” Castiel murmured in his ear as Jimmy wiped away a tear that was sliding down his cheek.

He opened his eyes and blinked back the tears that had gathered there, before turning to his family who were all watching with different degrees of shock. “So, everyone? These are my familiars.”

“You have got to be fucking kidding me?” Sam blurted out. Everyone turned to look at him “There’s no way that it could be possible to have two familiars, Dean, it’s unheard of.”

“I assure you, Sam, it’s true,” Castiel replied as Dean glared at his brother.

“Hey, dinner sure smells good. How about we eat, huh?” Adam piped up, trying to diffuse the fight that was clearly brewing. He went for a playful smile, but it came out more of a grimace. It was enough though, to get everyone moving to the dining room.

Dean sat at the head of the table with Castiel and Jimmy on either side of him. Adam and Michael shared a look before they planted themselves beside each twin to separate them from Gabriel and Sam at the other end. Everyone ate quietly. Gabriel tried to glare at Jimmy, but Michael blocked them from each other’s view and Sam gave Dean dirty looks, but Dean focused on his plate and sliding his eyes to the twins, getting soft smiles each time they made contact.

“So, what are you guys? I mean your animals?” Adam asked after everyone seemed to be finishing up. He knew once dinner was done the fighting would start, so he hoped getting everyone on a friendlier topic could stave off the fight a little longer.

“I’m a Maine Coon and Jimmy is a Norwegian Forest cat,” Castiel answered and Adam turned his chair to face him more easily.

“Really? You’re twins and are different animals? That’s fascinating. You are monozygotic, right?”

“Yes, we are, and actually it’s a myth that the animal forms are based on biology. Familiars’ animals aren't biological. It’s actually based on personality, so it's normal for twins to be different animals because, while biologically we are the same, personality-wise, we’re two separate people.”

“That’s incredible. I’m the head of the all-healers clinic here in town, and while I want you both to come down for tests, I would also really love to find out more about the differences between you.” Adam’s eyes lit up with excitement and it infected Cas, making him smile back as he nodded along.

“Yeah, Adam is our own little Doogie Howser and Michael here is his boyfriend and familiar, a snowy owl,” Dean said, his chest puffed up in pride over his youngest brother.

“Bubo scandiacus,” Michael clarified. “Just because some ignorant people can’t be bothered to learn the correct term doesn’t mean I have to lower myself to their infantile name for my breed.” Michael lifted his chin haughtily. The twins chuckled; it was obvious that this was a conversation that had been had many times.

Jimmy leaned closer to Michael until their shoulders touched. “I’m not even Norwegian, our family can be traced back to Russia. And Cas and I haven’t even been to Maine yet.”

Adam and Michael laughed at the joke and Jimmy sat back in his seat with a small smile. He was clearly proud of himself for making a good impression on the people who mattered so much to Dean.

Gabriel glared at Jimmy as he smiled down at his plate. “It’s mighty funny that you two happen to be Dean’s familiars. Both of you. At the same time. Because that just happens.” The sarcasm dripped from his words ruining the cordial moment.

“Actually,” Cas responded “the more powerful the witch, the more familiars they need to channel their magic through. It didn’t use to be such a rare occurrence, but obviously, still a necessary one.” Castiel raised a brow at Gabriel who just glared back.

Dean sat back proud, and smiled at Jimmy. “That’s actually pretty cool. So you and Cas knew you shared a witch when you drove into town?”

Sam let out a condescending chuckle, biting out words before the twin could respond. “Yes, how fortunate that two roadtripping twin familiars would just happen to waltz into town, find an unbonded witch from one of the most famous and powerful witch families, and it turns out they are his.” 

“They are mine Sam, I know they are,” Dean responded, giving Sam a leveled look, warning him to drop it.

“You didn’t even know they were twins! Seriously, you go from not having a familiar, not knowing what powers you have, to all of sudden thinking you’re the most powerful witch in North America? Whoo ho ho Holy inflated ego Deano.” Gabe rolled his eyes exaggeratedly as he let out a low whistle.

Dean’s eyes bounced from his brother to Gabe, not liking how the dinner was going so quickly off the rails. “Okay you two, knock it off. I didn’t invite them over here for a damn pissing contest.”

Sam whirled around on his brother, his eyes shifting to black as he screamed out in anger, his emotions strained to the point where his powers were building “Oh EXCUSE the Hell outta me for trying to look out for you. These two are trying to use you!” 

Neither twin had any fear of Sam losing control, or Dean allowing any harm to come to them, but Castiel was confused. He couldn’t fathom what they’d be trying to gain from being Dean’s familiars and he said as much. “What would we possibly be using him for, Sam?”

“His money,” Sam instantly spat out.

“His house,” Gabe countered with.

“Food,” Sam said, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Status,” Gabriel agreed, nodding.

“His power? Whatever the Hell! I don’t trust you, either of you.” Sam snapped at him.

“Ok one, fuck you, two, don’t talk to my brother like that, three, fuck you!” Jimmy jumped up, his chair flying back as everyone else jumped up from their seats.

The doorbell rang, cutting everyone off mid-yell as the family collectively took a breath and stepped back. Adam went to open the door. The sound of his voice rang through the foyer and back to the dining room. “Listen, now’s really not a good time. Just talk to him tomorrow… Fine then give them to me and I’ll make sure he gets it. Hey, I’m fucking serious, now isn’t the time, alright?”

Hearing their brother argue snapped Dean and Sam out of their heated glare, making them both sprint out of the room just a few steps behind Michael.

“Crowley? What are you doing here?” Sam asked. The confusion was clear on his face so Dean knew that Sam hadn’t invited the smarmy lawyer over.

“These are the papers from the Sandover filing, they came in after you left. I tried to call but it kept going to voicemail. These need to be done by the morning, since the judge will see them first thing.” Crowley’s eyes went over the crowd of people watching him. “Am I interrupting a party?” His eyes fell on the twin strangers and a slow grin spread over his face. “Well, hello there, I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced. Crowley MacLeod, pleasure to meet you.” He stuck out his hand to the twins but Dean slapped it down.

“They don’t want to meet you, now get out,” Dean growled through clenched teeth.

“No need to get so defensive, Squirrel,” he turned back to the twins. “You two do look awfully familiar,” he said, leering.

“Yeah they look like each other now get out,” Dean shoved Crowley out of the door and slammed it shut. Not wanting to get into another argument with his brother, Dean grabbed each of the twins’ hands and led them both up to his room.

***

Adam turned on his older brother, poking him in the chest with every word. “What is your problem, Sam?”

“My problem? What’s Dean’s problem? He can’t actually believe that both familiars are his. Hell, at this point maybe Gabriel is right!” Gabriel looked up with a proud grin but the glare from Mike kept him from adding to the new argument brewing.

“It doesn’t matter what you or Gabe or anyone thinks, the only thing that matters is what Dean feels. Didn’t you see how he reacted when they both touched him? You can’t fake that, Sam. Dean believes that both are his and we should respect that.”

“Respect it? Adam, there are two familiars upstairs with our brother, the firstborn son of the most powerful witch pairing—probably ever! Are you really telling me nothing about this seems wrong to you, that none of this seems fishy?”

“No, Sam, I’m not, because you’re right. This is weird and unprecedented for modern times, but it’s not unheard of. We don’t know how powerful Dean could potentially be, and it makes total sense for him to need two familiars if he is super powerful. But, I’ll tell you what I’m not going to do, I’m not going to stand here and argue with him or demean him or his familiars. I’m damn sure not going to accuse them of something without proof—and I’m not even the lawyer, you are, so fucking act like it. For the love of the absent gods, Sam, you’re better than this.” Adam turned from his brother and let his boyfriend lead him upstairs.

Once in the bedroom, Michael laid Adam down on the bed, arranging him so he was lying on his stomach. His mate massaged his back, working the knots and stress out of him. Michael’s hands worked down his back, his thighs, down his legs until he got to Adam’s feet. Adam groaned in pleasure at the attention. 

“Are you feeling better, Adam?”

“I’m more relaxed, but this whole situation is fucked up.”

“I know, but you handled yourself well. And, you were right, two familiars is not unheard of,” Michael agreed.

“We have to find a way to get Sam and Gabe ok with this. I can’t have my family fighting.” Adam hid his face in the pillow. He hid it well with snark and sass, but he was overly sensitive when it came to fights in his family. Whenever his brothers argued, he would break down, hating to have to choose a side when most of the time they were both in the wrong. It had gotten easier once Adam found Michael and he had someone who put him first and understood what he felt and what he needed.

“Everything will be fine. Everyone can just relax for tonight and I will talk to Sam and try to get him to see things clearly.” Michael climbed back up the bed and pulled Adam into a slow, building kiss. 

“I love you, you giant pigeon.”

“And, I love you, you little brat,” Michael responded with a fond smile.

*****

Dean closed the door, his forehead hitting the wood with a thud. This was not going the way he planned. Granted, it hadn’t been a great plan, but still— If anything, he had expected shock from his brothers and then them welcoming Jimmy with open arms. Then again, he had also only been planning for one familiar to show up, not twins. He needed to say something, to check on them and make sure they were okay with the arguing and defending themselves.

Dean could feel Castiel and Jimmy watching him silently, as he began processing everything that had happened. He could feel their eyes on his back. 

Castiel grabbed Dean’s hand and gently led him to the bed, before they all climbed up, their backs leaning on the headboard. Dean continued to stare into the distance, his shoulders tense.

They sat in silence for a while before Cas finally spoke up. “We need to talk. There’s a lot of information that not everyone had and I’m sure there’s a lot of questions we all need to get through so we can move forward.”

Dean stayed silent but moved his hands so both palms were facing up and clasped them shut when each twin put their hands over his. He knew he needed to speak, to be open and honest, like he had been with them every night they had visited him. But, it was harder now. They were men, and even though he  _ knew _ they were the same familiars he had so quickly come to trust, the thought of judgment felt more real now.

“I can’t believe I felt more comfortable talking when you guys were cats,” Dean joked.

“Would you like us to be in cat form?” Castiel asked.

“We’ll do it, if it makes you more comfortable. It won’t be a problem, Dean,” Jimmy added.

“No, that’s alright.” Dean rubbed his thumbs over their hands, noting how similar they looked; even their nails were cut the same length. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He needed to explain and put everything on the table. If they decided to stay — great, he would work hard to make his family understand that they were staying and the others could just deal. But, if they decided to leave, Dean would let them, but they would take his heart with them. 

“You guys have to understand that Sam isn’t usually like that. I mean, he can be a little bitch sometimes and Gabriel can be annoying all the time but, it’s been only us for a while. My mom and dad, they were everything to us and we were happy. Our mom was the heart of this family and when we lost her, we just didn’t function well.” When they didn’t say anything, Dean looked up and realized by the look in their eyes they didn’t know the story.

“It was years ago, back when Adam was still a baby. Our mother, Mary—well, her power was always magnified when it came to kids. She could heal them, calm them, protect them; she could do it all, and she did. 

“There was a call from another town saying that there was a family of familiars whose baby wasn’t sleeping at night. At the time there weren’t any healers like Adam who specialized in familiars, so my mom paid a house call that night. She got there in time to catch two dark witches trying to attack the parents.” Dean squeezed their hands in his. “She killed them, and put up a protection shield around the baby and their family. Me and Sammy were too young to know anything about this, so we didn’t know it even happened. But, apparently those witches were part of the Grand Coven, and when their leader found out, she wanted revenge. 

“You gotta know my parents came from incredibly strong and famous lines. Their spellwork was the strongest, and had been in the families for generation. So they got cocky, they trusted the protection sigils to always warn them if they were in danger or if they needed to run. The whole house was covered by my grandparents’ spellwork, but the Coven was stronger and better than the sigils. They broke in and attacked my mom. They tried to take Adam, but my mom and her familiar fought them off. My dad came home during the fight and told me and Sammy to get Adam and run while he and Cain tried to get to mom and Colette.”

Both twins wrapped an arm around Dean as he fought back the tears that threatened to fall. They whispered soothing words and kissed his cheek but he knew he needed to continue. “Dad found mom on the ceiling bleeding. Some spell they did caused her to burst into flames, and because Colette had been trying to pull her down she burned too. Dad and Cain couldn’t save them. We lost our family that night. 

“That’s when dad and Cain went out hunting for the Grand Coven. It took them years to kill each and every member. Even when they were done, they were still never the same. It wasn’t until a few years ago when Adam graduated college that dad and Cain finally passed away in their sleep. Sammy always said they were just waiting to make sure we were safe and in a good place before they could be with their wives again.” Dean tried to laugh but it sounded sad and forced even to his own ears. “I think they just didn’t want to deal with mom and Colette kicking their asses in the afterlife for leaving us when we weren’t ready. So, you see—even before dad died, it’s pretty much always been just us three. Then came Gabriel and Michael, but when something challenges the norm—it makes us go on edge. Sam will fight. But it comes from a good place, it doesn’t mean he hates you, it’s just right now, in this moment, you’re a risk to the family as he knows it.”

“You went from being the big brother to leading the family?” Jimmy asked.

“And because of that, Sam views you like he does the memory of your mother. If we were to take you away, he would lose the stability he relies on,” Castiel added.

“Yeah.” Dean nodded along while wiping his eyes. “Yeah, exactly.”

“The spell work on this house, and on the auto shop — those were not old spells.” Castiel looked at Dean, his eyes widening as the realization hit him. “You didn’t reuse old sigils. You created new protection sigils on your own didn’t you?”

Dean wanted to hide his face but he couldn’t with Jimmy and Castiel on either side of him. “I had time on my hands and I couldn’t work on real magic because I didn’t have a familiar yet. It isn’t that hard once you figure how what each symbol means and how to combine them.”

“Okay, now you’re just being way too modest. Sigils are probably one of the most complicated and hardest spellworks to master, especially without a familiar! And you came up with a lot of them yourself!” Jimmy leaned over and pressed a kiss to Dean’s jaw. “You should be proud of yourself, Dean. We’re proud of you.”

“Thank you,” Dean mumbled. “I hope you guys stay, I want you to stay, but I’ll understand if you decide to go. I just… I needed you to know why things were said down there and why Sam reacted the way he did.”

“We aren’t going anywhere, Dean,” Jimmy responded.

“We have been looking for you for years, Dean. We aren’t going to walk away now just because the introduction to your family didn’t go perfectly,” Castiel added. “It would mean the world to us for your family to accept us, but their response to us doesn’t change how we feel about you. You are our family, Dean, and we aren’t letting you go unless you ask us to leave.”

Jimmy cuddled closer to the witch and rested his head on Dean’s shoulder as Dean wrapped his arms around both of them. “Our parents were killed by a dark witch when we were teenagers. We didn’t know who she was at the time but she’s been after us for years. We aren’t like ordinary twins or familiars.”

“We can channel our own magic through each other, making a spell almost as powerful as a witch’s. We didn’t realize at the time how sought-after something like that would be. But we did know that it meant we would be sharing a witch,” Castiel explained.

“Rowena, the dark witch, tried to buy us from our parents—” Jimmy started to say. 

“—which is illegal, but that’s not why our parents said no. They didn’t trust her, and wanted us to find our real witch, not be tied to someone we weren’t meant to be with,” Cas said.

“Since the night she killed our parents, we’ve been on the run from her. That’s going on 15 years now. We don’t have any family, don’t make any friends. We just keep on the road and try to stay ahead of her so she can’t catch us,” Jimmy said.

“We weren’t even going to stop at this town but Jimmy had a dream—” 

“Premonition,” Jimmy interrupted.

“—of us meeting our witch. This town was the closest to the highway we were on, so we decided to stop in and get my car fixed while we took a look around.” Castiel looked up at Dean from beneath long dark lashes. “I felt your magic when I pulled into the shop. It was like being wrapped in a warm blanket and cuddling with someone you love. I knew whatever witch made the protection symbols had to be our witch.” 

“We were looking around town for you when we saw you coming out of the magic shop. We were in our animal forms, hiding, when we both felt the call for you. It was like finding home, and we knew you were both of ours,” Jimmy said. “When you texted me and started calling me Jimmy and Cas, we figured you knew we were twins and knew we were both yours.”

“It wasn’t until this morning when you reprimanded Jimmy for leaving the room, saying that you had already spoken to him about it, that we realized you didn’t know we were twins.” Castiel looked ashamed and it broke Dean’s heart.

“Don’t apologize. Gabe was right, it was dumb of me to think that a multi-shifting familiar existed and that I would be the only witch in the world who would have it.” Dean pressed a kiss to the top of each of their heads. “I should have said something, should have asked questions, but I was embarrassed and made the situation way worse than it ever needed to be.”

“Why were you embarrassed?” Cas asked.

“I don't know, I guess I just didn't want you guys to look at me like I was dumb, or feel like you were stuck with someone you didn't deserve.”

“Well that's stupid,” Jimmy said.

“Gee, thanks,” Dean replied.

Jimmy hastily explained, “No, what I meant was we’ve been waiting for you our whole lives, Dean. Nothing was gonna make us not want you or regret having you. I mean, we aren’t perfect, far from it. We can love you regardless of whatever stupid thing you say, the same way we hope you can love us regardless of me being hot-headed or tactless, and Cas not getting metaphors or his weird sense of humor.”

“What do you mean weird sense of humor?” Cas asked, his brows furrowed.

“Well, you have a really dry sense of humor, and your jokes aren’t funny. But you’re really adorable, so it’s okay,” Jimmy said with a smirk.

“Cas tells jokes?” Dean asked with a grin.

Jimmy nodded to his brother and put his head on Dean’s chest so he could comfortably look at both men. 

Cas gave them a small smile. “Why is six afraid of seven?”

Dean snapped his finger, “Oh I know this joke. ‘Cause seven—”

“—is a prime number and prime numbers are intimidating,” Cas cut in.

Dean looked at Cas as Jimmy laughed. Cas grinned, his pink lips stretched wide, his gums exposed and his blue eyes shining. Jimmy was right; Cas was utterly adorable. He hugged them close, knowing they would make it work together. He kissed their cheeks as they all cuddled together and talked about nothing else important until they fell asleep.

****

By the next week things were going better. Jimmy and Castiel moved in with Dean and his family, and their relationships had blossomed. They still hadn’t officially bonded as familiars and witch. But as boyfriends, their relationship was steady. Dean was on cloud nine being with his boyfriends and exploring their new relationship emotionally and sexually. Originally they tried to keep the sounds of their love making quiet, but Jimmy and Dean were far too loud. Though Dean used his extensive skills with sigils to soundproof the room, he was vocal about his joy and satisfaction at “living the dream,” as he put it. The relationship between the twins and the other Winchesters was slightly better than how it had been at the dinner. Adam was able to give them both passing grades in their medical evaluations. The twins were getting along well with Adam and Michael but Sam and Gabriel were still closed off. There hadn’t been any more fights since the night of the family meeting, but they were far from becoming the Brady bunch. 

Castiel was handling the tentative acceptance of the Winchesters well. He had high hopes that once Sam and Gabe saw that they loved Dean, and really were his familiars, they would accept them into the family. 

Jimmy, on the other hand, wasn't handling it well. He had the shorter temper of the twins, and was the more cocky and confident of them both. But, he was also much more sensitive to certain things than Cas, especially the thought of not being accepted. Castiel knew that most of Jimmy’s bouts of anger came from fear of not being seen as good enough. 

They had pretty much been vagabonds since the death of their parents, and especially in the beginning, had dealt with a lot of cruelty from strangers. They had been homeless, scared, chased by a murderess, and no one had wanted to help two teenage boys living out of their car. They never stayed in any one place long, and it had been difficult for them to get money for food or gas. There had been a few times where someone was willing to take Cas in but refused Jimmy. Even though Jimmy was certainly more charismatic, the angel hiding just beneath Cas’ surface was easy for some people to see.

Of course, Castiel would never leave his brother’s side. Castiel understood that people saw his quiet demeanor as naivete and thought they could take advantage of him. Jimmy had taken it personally then, but especially now. Now that Sam and Gabe weren’t accepting them in the family. They suffered them being in the house for Dean’s sake, not because they actually wanted the twins there. Gabe would glare at Jimmy who glared back, but it was Sam’s cold indifference that hurt his twin the most. Cas watched as his brother lay back on the bed, closing his eyes with a deep sigh. 

“Guessing Sam and Gabe just got home?” Castiel asked as he shut the door.

“Yeah, the trial ended early and the defendants settled. Not that they were excited and told me, but I heard Sam telling Adam.” Jimmy threw an arm over his eyes, blocking the sunlight and his brother’s intense stare. 

“I’m sure Sam and Gabe will come around soon.” 

“Oh yeah, I’m sure they’ll be throwing us a ‘welcome to the family’ party any day now. Face it, Cas, any hope of being bonded and happy will only happen for one of us. They’ll never accept both of us for Dean, and I’m already the unlikeable one.”

Castiel crawled up the bed, climbing over his brother until he was sitting on his lap. Jimmy lowered the arm on his face and looked up at the hungry look in his twin’s eyes.

“I will not allow us to be split up, Jimmy, ever. We are a pair and the only one who can make us leave is Dean. And he wants us both.” Castiel leaned down and pressed his lips against his twin’s. Jimmy let out a soft sigh, relaxing underneath his brother. 

“I love you, Cas.” Jimmy pressed another kiss to his twin’s lips, opening up to taste him. “I’ve missed this.”

Cas frowned and pressed a kiss to Jimmy’s nose then his brow. “I’m sorry, I haven’t been giving you the attention you deserve.” 

Cas had gotten so used to thinking Jimmy was upset over Sam and Gabe and their place in the family, that since they moved in, he hadn’t made love to his brother once. Sure, they made love to Dean, both together and separately, but they worked hard to not make their own relationship obvious. Jimmy had already been so on edge with feeling out of place, neither of them wanted to push Dean by telling him that they were in love with each other  _ and  _ him.

Jimmy moaned and arched his body up into his twin’s. His growing length rubbed against the matching one above him. “Please Cas, need you. Missed you so much, touch me, please.”

“Shhh, it’s okay I’m going to take care of you.” Cas sat up to pull his shirt off, flinging it across the room as Jimmy quickly took off his own clothes. 

Once they were both naked, Cas pressed kisses against Jimmy’s lips. He climbed over Jimmy again, using his arms to keep his full weight off his brother who wrapped his legs around him. It had been so long since either of them had felt the familiar body of their twin, that both their cocks were dripping. They moved against each other, grinding together, their precome slicking the way.

“Oh, fuck Cas yes, please, more,” Jimmy moaned as Cas moved against him harder and faster. Jimmy threw his head back exposing his throat and Cas placed kisses and nibbles along the exposed skin, careful not to leave any marks.

“Jimmy, I’ve missed you so much,” Cas gasped as he captured Jimmy’s lips once more in a bruising kiss.

“Missed you too, Cas. Fuck, so good.”

“You close, big brother?” Castiel cooed at his twin as Jimmy grunted out curses. “Want to come all over yourself? Want me to cover you in my come so everyone knows you’re mine?”

“Oh fuck, fuck, Cas, fuck,” Jimmy panted as he wrapped his legs tighter around his twin.

“Holy shit,” a new voice cried out, shocking them both to stillness.

Both brothers turned with wide eyes and saw Dean standing in the open bedroom door. In a panic they both shifted to their cat forms, jumping off the bed. Dean slammed the door shut, fear on his face, stopping them from running. Instead Jimmy rolled himself into a ball, making pitiful, pained noises as Castiel stood over him, licking his twins ears trying to soothe him. He watched Dean unblinkingly. 

***

Dean was frozen in shock. He couldn’t believe what he had walked in on. He had thought he was seeing things until he heard Cas’ deep gravely voice telling Jimmy he missed him and Jimmy grunting and sounding so desperate to come. Of course he enjoyed their sex life and had fantasized about the brothers enjoying each other while he watched, but he had never really thought it would be possible. All of the times they’d had sex, Jimmy and Cas had been on opposite ends of him, far from each other. Now though, Dean was realizing the real reason the twins had stayed away from each other. It wasn’t because they didn’t want to be together, but because they thought Dean would judge them.

Not liking his boyfriends being upset, especially when the reason they were upset was false, Dean went to them. He dropped down on bended knees and stroked the back of the cats’ necks. 

“Why did you stop? Don’t you want to come, Jimmy?”

Jimmy’s head shot up and Dean gave them both a smile that he hoped was more confident than how he felt. 

“You looked so good under your brother, the way you were giving yourself over to him. I didn't know if I wanted to watch or join, but I’m sorry for spooking you.” He willed his voice to stay as even as possible, he needed them to know that he was okay with this.

Cas shifted back to his human form, his eyes narrowed in confusion and suspicion. “Do you mean that? You still want us? Want to join us?”

Dean looked at Cas seriously and placed his hand behind Cas’ human neck, letting him feel grounded with Dean’s steady touch. “I love you guys and nothing—and no one—will ever change that. I get why you didn't tell me, but I know now, and I'm being honest when I say it doesn't change how I feel about you. The only thing I hope for, is that now I can make you both happy, without you having to deny each other.”

Castiel scrambled onto Dean's lap, causing him to fall over as he kissed him hungrily. He growled and ripped Dean’s shirt off, sending buttons scattering across the floor. Cas sealed his mouth over his, moaning at the taste of him. Dean could do nothing but allow Cas to kiss him. Jimmy pulled his twin away from their kiss to demand his own hungry kiss from Dean. Dean reached around to grip Cas’ firm ass as he lost himself to Jimmy’s talented tongue. Dean kissed him back until Cas demanded his brother’s mouth and he watched, slack jawed, as the twins ravaged each other. 

Dean leaned up and watched as the brothers moved with him, their kiss unbroken. He ran his hands over the brothers’ naked bodies, down their sides, to their toned bellies and finally wrapped his hands around their matching lengths. He spared only a look to their cocks, before he began jerking them off, his eyes drawn back up to watch their tongues dueling above him. 

Cas gripped Dean’s hair tightly, too lost in the taste of Jimmy and the feeling of Dean stroking his aching cock. Dean gasped as Cas began to fuck into his hand, moaning at the taste of his twin in his mouth. Dean moaned too, at the feeling of his cock twitching against Cas’ ass, his precome slicking the way for his familiar’s lazy thrusts to allow his cock to slide between Cas’ cheeks. It just made Dean aware of how much he wanted to fuck him properly. Breaking the kiss with his brother, Cas took Dean’s mouth again, and he felt Jimmy’s mouth on his neck sucking harshly on his pulse point.

“Fuck!” Dean called out in frustration, breaking Cas’ kiss. The floor was uncomfortable and he was dying to come. “Bed. Now. Both of you.”

The twins scrambled off the floor and onto the bed, placing themselves on their knees in the center and looking to Dean for further instructions. Their eyes were so dark, there was hardly any blue left to them.

“Jimmy, hands and knees.” Jimmy quickly got himself into position as Cas waited for his instructions. “Cas, you’re going to fuck our boy and fill him up. Show me how good of a top you are, sunshine.” 

Dean lay down next to them and stroked himself slowly, watching as Cas prepped his brother and Jimmy whined, pushing back, trying to get Cas to rush.

“Oh and Jimmy?” Dean grinned when Jimmy looked down at him. “You don’t get to come yet.” Jimmy let out a pitiful moan but Dean just chuckled, watching as Cas slid another slick finger into the tight pink hole. “Cas, you’re the only one he listens to, right?” 

Dean gave the younger twin a look, loving the way he just gave him a barely there smile as he twisted his fingers inside his brother. “Hold yourself back, Jimmy, don’t come until you have permission,” Cas instructed. 

Dean had to hold tight to the base of his cock to keep from coming. Jimmy was making ungodly moans as his brother continued to stretch him open. Cas was massaging Jimmy’s prostate, making him squirm and his cock spurt precome. But Jimmy was holding himself back, knowing his boyfriends had a plan for him. 

Dean watched as Cas slid the blunt head of his cock into Jimmy’s tight pucker. The twins groaned in unison as Castiel slowly worked his length into his brother. When he finally bottomed out, Jimmy dropped his forehead to the bed, his eyes closed as his body adjusted to the intrusion. Dean licked his lips as Cas spread his knees wider, covering Jimmy’s back with his body. Jimmy’s breath stuttered as Cas made long languid thrusts, speeding up as Jimmy relaxed under him.

Dean grabbed Jimmy by his hair and yanked his face around to him. His lips were bitten red. “This whole time you’ve been fucking me nine ways to Sunday and you’re a beautiful bottom?”

“O—only f—for Cas.”

“Fuck that’s hot. And bashful bottom Cas is really a domming top, but only for you, huh?”

Jimmy struggled to nod his head. The pleasure of his brother fucking him hard and fast, the sting of Dean’s kisses, and tension in his hair clear in his face as his eyes rolled back. Dean didn’t know how much longer Jimmy could keep from coming.

Dean watched mesmerized at the way Cas drove into his brother, the way his long fingers gripped into the flesh of Jimmy’s hips, pulling him in as he snapped his hips. The sounds of skin on skin rang loud in the quiet room. Jimmy gasped into the mattress, his long fingers, so identical to the ones on his hips, held onto the bed sheet for dear life. His eyes were glassy and unfocused, his mouth slack-jawed as garbled sounds fell from his lips. Dean was sure, that if he weren't so blissed out being impaled on his brother's cock, Jimmy’s sounds might actually have passed for words. 

“Remember, Cas, I don't want him coming,” Dean said.

***

Cas changed his angle as he continued pistoning into Jimmy. The older twin managed to close his mouth and swallow back his moans once Cas was no longer assaulting his prostate. Cas held tight to Jimmy’s hips, slamming into his brother, the feeling of delicious tight heat surrounding him, squeezing him back in, when he pulled out, was driving him mad. He had already been so close before they were interrupted. He wanted to last longer—but he couldn’t, especially not when Jimmy arched his ass up even higher.

“Fuck, Jimmy.” Castiel watched as his cock was swallowed by Jimmy’s hole. His hips stuttered as he finally let go. He cried out as he pressed himself in tight against his brother’s firm ass, coating Jimmy’s channel in his hot seed.

Castiel withdrew, panting, and Jimmy crawled over to Dean, his arms and legs shaking. Cas rushed forward to help Jimmy; he was too tired and fucked out to squat over Dean’s face, so Cas helped him straddle Dean’s chest. He sat back with his hands resting either side of Dean’s belly. Cas threw himself up the bed as the witch pulled open Jimmy’s cheeks and fit his mouth over the puffy entrance to suck the come from him. Dean’s face disappeared in his twin’s flesh, and his spent cock twitched at the sound of the guttural moans falling from Jimmy’s lips. Cas could picture Dean flattening his tongue, soothing the fucked out hole before folding his tongue and pushing it inside. Dean drank his fill, the muffled slurping sounds making Cas and Jimmy moan in unison.

Cas leaned up and swallowed his brother’s sounds of pleasure in a filthy kiss, making him surrender under his attack as Dean’s tongue plundered Jimmy’s wrecked ass. When they pulled apart Jimmy’s eyes were dazed and his pupils blown wide, the blue disappearing into a thin line. Castiel moved down Dean’s body, dragging his legs open to fit himself between them. He licked along the witch’s perineum. He enjoyed the muffled sounds coming from the mouth between his brother’s cheeks as he sucked Dean’s balls into his mouth one at a time. A foot nudged his side and he took the hint for what it was—his tongue lapped at the salty droplets on Dean’s cock, licking from base to tip. Fitting his mouth over the head he sucked the witch thoroughly, hollowing his cheeks as he bobbed up and down. The slick sounds Cas’ mouth made as it worked over Dean’s dick nearly drowned out the hitch in Dean’s breathing as his head fell back at the pleasure Cas was bringing to him.

“Fuck, you two are gonna kill me,” Dean rasped.

“All the more reason to get back to it, instead of dying with your head on a pillow,” Jimmy impatiently snapped back.

Castiel smiled around Dean’s cock as he heard him give Jimmy’s cheek a slap before he pulled him back down onto his face. Jimmy fisted Cas’ hair in a tight grip as he continued to bob his head, sucking Dean’s cock down his throat; his twin’s solid grip grounding him Cas could feel Jimmy’s hand tighten further as his free hand struggled to hold on to Dean’s sweat slicked body. Castiel groaned, knowing the signs for what they were, as Jimmy came with a shout. White streaks shot up and landed in Cas’ hair, more hot spurts spilled out onto Dean’s belly. From his position, Cas couldn’t see what Jimmy did, but it caused Dean to fuck harshly up into Cas’ mouth, making him gag as his cock hit the back of Cas’ throat. That was the final straw for Dean, who came hard, letting out a dark guttural moan as he shot his load down Cas’ throat. Castiel swallowed it all before licking his cock clean. Jimmy whimpered and slid off Dean, before he bent to lick his come off the witch. Cas leaned in to help, their tongues working together, lapping at Dean's chest and belly, cleaning him of the evidence of their love making.

Once Dean was free of come, the three men tiredly cuddled together. Dean and Cas pushed Jimmy into the middle so they could surround their boyfriend, kissing him and murmuring tired words of love as their heads hit the pillows, eyes drooping shut as sleep claimed them all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> awwwww Dean has his boyfriends and everything is good…. kinda…. for now.  
> My first time writing a threesome be kind, be gentle *dramatic flop on the couch*


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The family comes together when the past comes back to hurt them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> time for shit to hit the fan.

Dean wiped the grease off his hands, his eyes on the Ford in front of him, but his mind was on the twins. He couldn’t believe that just a short week ago he had been alone, losing hope of ever having a familiar—of ever finding someone who completed him. It was like some RomCom movie and he was the leading lady who got the perfect ending. But, instead of falling in love with the best friend or the uber popular ladies man he fell for a pair of devastatingly handsome twins. And, they loved him back, just as much as they loved each other. 

He grinned to himself as he closed the hood of the car. He had been having hot sex with his familiars all week, but finding out the twins had their own sexual and romantic relationship too, added to their polyamorous one. Being with the Novaks completed him and made him happier than he had ever been. Castiel was quiet but had a sassy, dry humor and watching the back and forth between him and Michael always served to make Dean laugh. Jimmy was loud and opinionated and seeing him discussing magical laws and why most should be updated to current times—well he found the conversation boring—but seeing Jimmy and Adam bonding always made him happy. Unfortunately, Sam and Gabriel still weren’t accepting the twins, and while Cas hid his hurt better than Jimmy, Dean could see the pain they both felt. 

He hated that the two men he loved, his familiars, weren’t accepted by two of his family members. He had tried to talk to Sam and Gabriel but they were steadfast in their disdain for the twins. He was trying to hold out hope that once they officially bonded the others would see that it wasn’t a scam. 

He had already gotten authorization to take the twins out of town to the mountain property that had long belonged to the Campbell Estate. It was law that when witches found their familiar that they go to designated areas to test their powers and bond with their animals. There was an open area out in the nearby farmlands for the witches of the town to do just that—but Dean and his family were too powerful. If the familiar weren’t their true match, their power could rage out of control and risk the lives of everyone close by. Dean, though, had absolutely no doubt, that the next weekend when he took the twins up to the compound, they would be bonded and they’d prove to his brother that they were, in fact, meant to be.

A painful howl sounded through the garage and Dean jumped back in time to see Castiel in his Maine Coon form running towards him. The cat collapsed at his feet, his chest heaving as he panted. Dean was instantly on edge, he had never seen Cas behave this way.

“Cas? What’s going on?”

The familiar shifted back to his human form and Dean’s stumbled back in surprise as he saw the damage to Cas’ clothes.

“Cas what the Hell happened? Where’s Jimmy?” Dean practically shouted, his voice ringing out in the silent shop as everyone came over.

“She… she took him Dean. Rowena took Jimmy.”

Dean got down on the floor and pulled Cas into his arms, the man crying into his shoulder. He rubbed a hand soothingly along Cas’ back as he looked up imploringly at the other workers. Charlie was already nodding to him, motioning to her phone and miming clicking on a keyboard. He nodded back and held Cas tight, kissing his temple as he tried to soothe him. Dean’s heart was beating out of his chest, but he fought back his fear and panic to focus on the familiar in his arms. Getting up, he carefully pulled Cas with him, and walked to the breakroom so they could talk in private.

“Cas, buddy, come on. You gotta tell me what happened.” 

Castiel looked up at him, his eyes red from his tears, his bottom lip quivering. “We were walking through the park. We were talking, and discussing the situation with Sam and Gabriel. We had just came to an agreement when Rowena appeared in our path. She… she came after us, but we shifted to our animal forms in hopes of out running her. That’s when she started hurling fire orbs at us. We tried to run but she wouldn’t let us turn and I got singed. We had no choice but to run in the direction she wanted us to. It was towards the man who came to the dinner that night we met your family. He had a large metal cage and he was holding it open. I didn’t see it.” 

The tears were flowing freely down Cas’ cheek as he described what happened next. “Jimmy saw it and… he slammed into me forcing me out of the path and he skidded right into the cage. There was nothing I could do, I wanted to attack, to set him free but he screamed at me to run and that’s when Rowena started hurling these blue orbs at me while yelling out  _ Manete _ . I think that’s a stunning spell.”

“Oh Cas.” Dean hugged him tight against his chest as Cas began sobbing over his brother. 

They stayed locked in each other’s arms until Charlie came running in. “Sam says get home now, Adam and Michael are already on their way. I’m looking up all the info I can on Rowena.”

Dean helped Cas up, one arm wrapped around his middle keeping him close as though someone could take him from the witch’s side. “Look up whatever you can on Crowley MacLeod. That’s the guy who helped Rowena take Jimmy, he’s a lawyer who works with Sam and as far as I know, has no powers.”

“Got’cha, don’t worry, I’ll get all the info you need.” She gave Cas a caring look, “We’ll find Jimmy, those two have no idea the can of whup ass they just opened up.”

“Thank you Charlie, please do what you can.” Cas waved goodbye as Dean lead him to the car. He just hoped Sam and Gabriel could stow away their disdain long enough to help. 

****

“Okay, I think I have it now,” Sam said as he ground more powdered fairy wings and elf bones into a wooden mortar. “Give me your hand, Cas.”

Cas gently placed his hand in Sam’s larger one and the other man cut a line across the familiar’s palm. His blood swelled to the surface and he turned it to hover over the mortar. He was still surprised that Sam and Gabriel were so quick to help him and Dean rescue Jimmy. On the way home from the garage Cas had been sure that they would have accused him of making the story up. But no, as soon as he and Dean entered the house Gabriel had rushed over and hugged him tight, while Sam informed them about how Crowley had been missing from work for the last two days without so much as a call to the office. 

Adam grabbed Cas’ bloody hand, as he sent a pulse of power into it, healing the knife wound. Michael sat on his witches shoulder in his owl form. This had been happening for hours now; Sam going through long forgotten archives to find different location spells and using Castiel’s blood to draw a connection to Jimmy. Dean was in and out of the room, constantly calling Charlie to see if she found any information and calling all magical city leaders nearby to be on the lookout for his boyfriend and the kidnappers. Cas knew Dean was scared, on edge, and doing everything he could think of to take back control. He looked around the room as Sam mumbled words over a glass orb, pouring the ingredients over it, the reddish-brown furred Marten draped around his neck. Gabriel’s eyes glowed with a bright gold light as Sam channeled his magic through him. A fog appeared in the glass. Cas waited, hoping to see the familiar face of his twin appear, but instead the crystal ball cracked and exploded in a shower of glass.

“Damn it!” Sam screamed out in frustration before punching the wall. Adam was there healing his fist in moments. “Rowena has her location too well hidden. Anytime I try to spy in on her it blows up in my face,” he growled out before Gabriel nuzzled his jaw trying to soothe the frustrated witch.

“There has to be something else that we can do?” Adam added as his eyes caught the clock on the wall. “It’s 6 in the morning, we need to go to bed.” He raised his hand, halting both of his brothers before they began their tirade. “It’s late and we’re just going to get more tired, make more mistakes, and ruin our chances of bringing Jimmy home. We all need to get some sleep.”

“I can’t sleep without my brother being safe here with me.” Cas thought he had said it low enough to not be heard but, with how quickly Dean wrapped his arms around him, he guessed that he was wrong.

“I can help you both fall asleep. I have some sleep powder that will work,” Adam offered as everyone started exiting the room. Michael spread his white wings and flew off further down the hall.

Dean really didn’t want to go to sleep. His boyfriend was missing and he wanted to stay up fighting for him. He wanted to find him, to put his arms around him, hold him close, kiss his lips and experience the feeling of a warm fireplace under his skin again. But he knew Cas was suffering too and his need to care for Cas overrode his desire to stay up yelling at Charlie and Sam to find Jimmy faster. He knew it wasn’t working and he was lost, so now, caring for Cas was something he could do, something to keep the self doubt and self blame back.

“I only need four hours.” Dean knew he needed a lot more but Adam knew better than to say anything. 

Dean and Cas followed Adam to their bedroom. His brother watched as they got under the blankets together. Michael flew back to Adam’s shoulder, dropping the pouch of sleeping powder into his waiting hand. “Okay you two, I’m going to sprinkle this over you and you’ll fall into instant sleep. When it’s time to get you up I’ll come back—but don’t worry—if you want to wake up, you still can. Just do whatever you normally do to wake yourself up.”

“Thank you, Adam,” Castiel said, sounding genuinely grateful.

“Come on just sprinkle the pixie dust already,” Dean grumbled as Cas cuddled closer to his side. The other side of the bed was too empty, too cold, too wrong without Jimmy.

“Alright, alright.” Adam sprinkled the rose colored powder over their faces, “Somnum.” The powder shimmered on their skin as he spoke the incantation and it absorbed into their skin.

Dean looked around him, finding himself in a dark forest that looked eerily familiar, but he couldn’t place it. Castiel was by his side, looking confused as he looked around them. 

“Where are we, Cas?” Dean asked as he reached out to clasp his boyfriend’s hand.

“I...I think we’re dream walking. I did this once before, before we met. It even looks like the same woods,” Castiel’s voice was hesitant as he looked around.

“Cas? Dean?” Jimmy’s voice caused both of them to whirl around and rush to him, pulling him into a tight hug.

“I can’t believe Adam’s stupid sleep powder did more to help us find you than all of Sam’s spells and Charlie’s hacking,” Dean nearly sobbed in relief as he held tight.

“Are you okay?” Castiel asked.

Jimmy shook his head sadly, “I'm not asleep of my own accord. My body just couldn't take the pain anymore. I must’a blacked out.”

“Can you tell us anything about where you are? What it looks like?” Dean asked, struggling to keep his voice even so they didn’t hear his desperation. He had to be strong for them; they were relying on him. 

“Well, it's a warehouse that's for sure.” The dreamscape changed to resemble the warehouse Jimmy was being held in.

“Did you see or hear anything? Maybe a train or a seagull? Anything?” Cas asked as he and Dean turned, trying to spot any clues about the location.

“Do I look like Cameron Diaz to you? I’m not a fucking Charlie’s Angel, Cas, I can't just lick seagull poop and know where it came from,” Jimmy snapped at his brother.

***

Castiel could see the tightness in his brother’s shoulders and how he was favoring one side. Just like in a normal dream, they couldn’t feel pain, but it was obvious Jimmy wasn’t being treated well. Cas forced himself to remain calm, only wanting to soothe his twin, “We’re going to get you out Jimmy, I promise.”

“Since when do you—we dream walk?” Jimmy asked.

Castiel realized Jimmy was deflecting, just like he always did. Dean noticed too, and wrapped his arm around Jimmy’s shoulders, pressing a kiss to his temple.

“Apparently being with Dean has woken more of our powers,” Cas answered.

“Too bad they seem to be passive, I’d love to blow up Rowena and her son,” Jimmy said, as he pressed a desperate kiss to Dean’s lips, clearly already beginning to lose any hope that he would be rescued.

“Son?” Castiel asked after Jimmy leaned in to get a reassuring kiss from his lips, too.

“Yeah, Crowley’s her kid, calls her mother. But get this, she calls him Fergus. Crowley isn't even his real name.”

“This could be the break that we need. You did good Jimmy.” Dean’s smile was usually infectious, but Jimmy remained stoic.

“Not sure how much help it'll be. If our power really is as passive as it seems, yours could be too,” Jimmy stated, pointing a finger at the green-eyed witch. “What are you gonna do against Rowena? Give her a nightmare?”

“If I have to, yeah. I'd do anything to keep you and Cas safe. Everyone else is helping too, damn it. So how about you don’t give up, cause we sure as fuck aren’t,” Dean growled.

“Everyone? As in Gabe and Sam too?” Jimmy’s brows furrowed as he looked at his twin, knowing Cas wouldn’t lie.

“Yes, they have been trying as hard as we are to find you, and any information that we can get on Crowley and Rowena. Trust us, Jimmy, we will bring you home.” Castiel had never seen the look in Jimmy’s eyes before and it made his heart wrench.

“Sure, I trust you Cas, always.” He pressed a kiss to his brother’s lips before pressing one to Dean’s.

The dreamscape melted away until Cas and Dean woke up cuddled together on their bed. Cas looked over to Dean and held him tighter, tears in his eyes as he spoke with his face buried in the space between Dean’s neck and shoulder. “He’s given up. I've never seen Jimmy look like that before. Even when our parents died, he was so sure we could get away from Rowena, that we could be safe. He kept us moving and now, he's given up, Dean.”

“We'll save him Cas, I swear to you, we’ll find him and bring him home,” Dean vowed. 

****

Jimmy woke up with a groan. He was lying on the cold concrete ground, his side lit up with pain as he tried to turn over. The sound of someone tsk-ing at him made him turn his head, careful to not move his body, as he looked up at his captor.

“Aye, there’s my wee little kitty. Did you enjoy your nap?” Rowena’s green eyes looked black in the low light. She walked around him, her smile sending a chill through him as her emerald gown glided over the blood he spilt earlier.

“Bite me, bitch,” Jimmy snapped back, baring his teeth, trying to look as threatening as possible from his position.

“Now, now, dearie, is that any way to speak to your witch? Honestly, this generation has no respect.” 

“Why should anyone respect a dried up, old harpy like you?” Jimmy barely had time to brace himself before she kicked him in his side.

“Considering the fact that I have so graciously allowed you to be gifted as my familiar,” she bent down and gripped his hair, yanking his head up at an uncomfortable angle. “You would do well to respect me, or I will give you reason to fear me. Now, help me get that brother of yours.”

He growled at her through clenched teeth, “You will never get your hands on my brother. I’ll see you burn in Hell before you get near him.” With that he spat at her, making her lash out with an energy ball that pained him.

“You think you’re the first familiar I’ve graced with this opportunity? Oh no, there have been many many others. Many more grateful than you, especially since I saved them from the certain death of being with the Grand Coven.”

Jimmy looked up with wide eyes. The conversation with Dean replayed in his mind, the Grand Coven were the ones who had killed Mary. “The Grand Coven is dead, John Winchester made damn sure of that.”

Rowena let out a condescending laugh, her voice echoed through the barren room. “Well of course he bloody did, those miserable old fools got greedy. I warned them to not take more than they needed, but did they take my advice? No.” A playful pout touched her red lips before she smiled again.

“Mother, do you really think you should be telling him any of this? He’ll just die like the others.” Crowley’s voice caused them both to look up at him. Jimmy hadn’t even realized he had entered the room.

“Fergus, I told you not to sneak up on me. Besides, you know I love a curious kitty. And, it would do him well to have all the information, maybe then he’ll make better choices and save himself a painful death.” She looked back at Jimmy, raising her brow in question.

“What was your warning to the Grand Coven?” Jimmy asked, wondering if the information would actually do anything to save his brother.

“At the time the Supreme had been Olivette and she was a pompous, overbearing fool. She had no right to lead us! And she was terrible at it, too. She eventually listened to the advice of one of her most powerful witches. She convinced her that every witch in the Coven should steal an unbound familiar and use them to channel their power.” Rowena shook her head at the memory. 

“Why didn’t you just look for your own familiars?” Jimmy asked, hoping for a short answer. She seemed to like the sound of her own voice.

“We did deary, eons ago. Unfortunately the spells we used to keep ourselves young and beautiful did not transfer to our familiars. My dear Oskar died nearly a century ago, you can’t imagine the pain and humiliation from being able to wield incredible power and then losing it. I could do no more than incantations and common spell work after he died. Anytime I tried anything stronger there would be a terrible backlash that, luckily, only killed others.”

Jimmy gave her a bitch face that even Castiel would be proud of, “How terrible for you.”

“Isn’t it?” she nodded along, obviously ignoring his sarcasm. “It was  _ I _ who realized that unbound familiars could be used for their powers. Of course, we of the Coven are so powerful, that channeling our magic resulted in certain death for the familiars, but if we had enough of them, it was easier.” She frowned as she continued “Then they kicked me out banished me from the Coven  _ I _ made stronger. All because I dared to point out that Olivette had not been doing her job in the first place! To keep us powerful!”

“You tried to dethrone her and trap her in the body of a hamster,” Crowley pointed out with a bored tone.

“She had become complacent and weak, she didn’t deserve to rule,” Rowena snapped back, before turning to focus on Jimmy again.

“Without me and my spells they couldn’t keep the familiars alive for very long. They got greedy and desperate. Taking more and more familiars, killing them just as fast. It’s no wonder they were such easy pickings for John Winchester. I, on the other hand, will make no such mistake.” Reaching out, she stroked a red nail down his face and Jimmy tried to bite her. 

“You’ve already made your mistake if you think you can steal me from Dean Winchester,” Jimmy smiled.

“James, do you know why I wanted both you and your brother?” Rowena asked ignoring him.

“I don’t know, twin kink?”

She rolled her eyes, and Jimmy knew she would get tired of his snarking eventually, but he couldn’t bring himself to behave any other way. “No James, it’s because twins that are born the way you and your brother were, are linked. You share magic in between yourselves, and when you bond with your witch you can help each other to balance the powerful magic. Only the most powerful of witches ever have two familiars.”

“Guess that explains why you only had Oskar.” Jimmy grunted with pain as she kicked him in the face.

“Enough with the snide remarks James, I’m trying to save you. Or are you too stupid to understand? I am much too powerful for one familiar, especially one who isn’t my true familiar. I need you  _ both  _ or  _ you  _ will die; my power will course through your body and light it up with fire, burning you from the inside out until there is nothing left but ashes. But, if you help me to acquire your brother too, you can both balance out my magic. You both will live.”

Jimmy locked his eyes with hers before forcing himself up. He was in pain but he hid it even as he managed to sit up, pressing his back against the wall for support. “You can’t begin to imagine how much I love my brother, Rowena. I will die a thousand deaths for his happiness. And Dean will make him happy. He’ll protect him and if you so much as dare to  _ breathe _ near him, Dean will destroy you.” 

“My, my, my, so much faith in this Dean. He’s just a man, and without both his familiars he’ll never be able to use his magic. I could kill him with a word.”

“Yeah, it’d be easier to believe you, if you weren’t hiding out in a dusty warehouse like a rat. Face it, you’re terrified and you know there’s nowhere for you to run. I’m not going to help you get my brother, I’m not going to help you with your magic.” He leveled her with a glare, his heart and mind steeled in their decision, “You may as well kill me. Then run as far and as fast as you can.”

“In due time deary. Especially as, if I don’t have you  _ and  _ your brother to balance my magic, I’ll only be able to use you for one big spell. Obviously, it will have to be killing your precious Dean, your brother, and everyone in that house.” Rowena pulled out a luminous blade and passed it to Crowley. “But first, I think you need to learn some respect. Why don’t you just think about how you’re willing to die a thousand deaths for your brother who won’t even live to experience a moment of that happiness you want for him.”

*****

Under the cover of darkness the family arrived at the abandoned warehouse where Jimmy was being held. Once Dean had told Charlie about Crowley’s real name, she had found a property on the outskirts of town that he had recently purchased. Gabriel and Sam used their magic on all the doors and windows, creating illusions that they were only walls so Rowena and Crowley wouldn’t be able to escape. Adam and Michael were ready to heal and run if Jimmy was too hurt to move on his own. They had been over the plan several times but the air was still thick with tension. This was nothing like the training drills John had given them years ago. One of their family was in danger, and if they failed, there was no second chance.

The four made their way through the building until they got to the main room. It was a large open space with a few tables and chairs scattered around. In the middle was Jimmy, beaten, bloody, lying on the ground and yelling at Crowley.

“Yeah well, your accent sounds fake, you’re probably from Idaho!”

Crowley picked up a luminous blade coated in blood. As the captor took a step towards Jimmy, Dean took off running. He struck Crowley with a punch to the head and sent the man to the ground as the others ran across the room to Jimmy. 

“ _ Abite _ ,” Rowena flicked her hand sending Dean flying into the opposite wall. “Had I known you would be bringing me my other familiar I would have put out a spot of tea.”

Dean shook his head to clear the stun from the impact. Behind Rowena he could see his brother healing Jimmy, and Castiel in his animal form stalking behind the red haired witch.

“They aren’t yours, you old crone,” he snapped back as he got back to his feet.

Her eyes roamed over his body slowly, making him uneasy. “I don’t think I’ll kill you Dean. Not when you’ll work so much better as my pet. An attack dog to kill your own family, as your familiars become mine.”

A loud deep howl rang out as Castiel pounced on Rowena’s back. Hissing and spitting he clawed at her as she screamed. Dean ran around her while she struggled to dislodge the cat, and slid on his knees to get to Jimmy.

“Hey, Jimmy you okay?”

Jimmy smiled at him, his eyes shining with happiness. “I’m great now.”

Sam and Gabriel made their way into the room as Crowley ripped Cas from his mother’s back flinging him to the ground. Castiel landed on his feet and ran back to his boyfriends, shifting back to human form. 

When both his familiars were by his side Dean felt whole again. The feeling of winter fire and rainfall in a meadow settled over him. He wasn’t afraid, he was filled with fury and the urge to protect. Dean stood in front of his family, arms out, feeling the power flowing down to his finger tips. Rowena tried to prepare an attack, her hands in the air, but the air around the Winchesters grew warm. The smell of roasted chestnuts surrounded them as static flew around above them before settling over Castiel, covering him in blueish white light. Jimmy stood and the air around him turned orange-red as he stood to Dean’s other side and a step behind his out stretched hand.

The others were ready and prepared to fight but stayed back when they saw they weren't needed; Castiel and Jimmy were like cogs in a machine, allowing Dean to channel his magic through them—and they added it to their own. The familiars created magical force fields to protect from the fireballs thrown from Rowena and Crowley’s potion bottles. Jimmy held his shield in front of the others, protecting their family, while Cas had his out in front of them, protecting Dean. 

Dean focused his magic, allowing it to finally grow and flare without restriction. If his familiars were shields of protection then he was a flaming sword of righteousness. His anger fueled him, but his love and need to protect his family grounded him in a way that allowed him to keep control. Both of his hands shot out striking the Macleods with a beam of white light. Red lines swirled around the beams hitting the ground beneath them. Rowena and Crowley flew up from the blast before landing in a heap on the ground—now nothing more than shattered concrete.

“Do it! Kill me!” Rowena spat at him.

“I'm not going to kill you, Rowena. I'm going to make sure you pay for what you’ve done,” Dean glared back.

Rowena cackled, blood dribbling from the corner of her mouth down her chin, “You foolish boy, no jail could hold me.”

Deans lips stretched over his teeth into a chilling smile. Rowena's laughter cut off abruptly as she watched him with wide eyes. He placed one hand above her heart and the other to her forehead. He pulled her magic around her mind, trapping her in her own thoughts. Her mouth fell open in a silent scream before he dropped her back to the floor. 

He turned to Crowley who was surrounded by all four of the Winchester familiars in human form. “Hey now, I'm a businessman. I've never killed anyone.”

“You kidnapped my brother you bastard!” Castiel challenged.

“Technically my mother kidnapped him. I’m just as much a victim as dear Jimmy here.”

“Jimmy? Whatever you wanna do, angel,” Dean offered, one hand touching his back softly in comfort.

“What's good for the goose is good for the gander,” Jimmy responded with a raised brow as he stared down Crowley.

Crowley screamed and tried to fight, but the twins held him down as Dean trapped him within his own mind—in eternal torture like his mother. Both of them lay on the floor, staring off into nothing as their eyes faded to milky white, their mouths slack jawed as they remained unmoving.

“I'll fill out the paperwork. Kidnapping familiars is a capital crime, I can make sure they're put somewhere so far out of the way, so secret, that most agencies don't even know it exists,” Sam said.

Gabriel nodded in agreement. He looked down at the drooling mess that was once Crowley, “No one fucks with the Winchesters.”

Dean and the twins turned to look at them in wonder. 

Sam gave Dean an embarrassed smile before they wrapped their arms around one another in a tight hug. Their familiars did the same, hugging out their apology and forgiveness, except for Gabe who added loud kisses to Jimmy and Castiel’s cheeks, making everyone laugh.

*****

Jimmy woke up cuddled between his boyfriends. After getting home Dean had quickly excused them and brought him and Cas up to their room. Jimmy wasn’t up for sex, but neither were they. Instead they had held him, kissed him, and told him how much they loved him. With everything that had happened, and their bonding, he could understand the exhaustion. But he couldn’t sleep as easily as they could, his mind wouldn’t let him relax enough even in the safety of their arms. Not wanting to wake them up he shifted to his cat form and crawled out of their hold and off the bed. He stayed in his cat form to keep his late night wandering from the other sleeping family members. 

As he reached the landing he saw the light on in the kitchen. When he reached the door, he saw Sam sitting at the table eating leftover gorgonzola covered waffle fries. He almost turned around and left, but Sam saw him and froze with a fry still hanging from his mouth. His eyes were wide, the hazel color bright under the kitchen light, as Jimmy watched the creamy gorgonzola drip down. He shifted back to his human form and reached into the bowl and ate a fry. They shared a look as they continued eating but Sam was no longer stuffing his face and was eating at a much slower pace.

“Don’t tell Dean and Gabe about me eating this. If they knew I actually ate this kinda thing, they’d never stop trying to shove unhealthy food into me.” Sam spoke softly, not wanting his voice to carry.

Jimmy looked at him but his head was down staring at a drip of cheese that landed on the table. Jimmy grabbed a napkin and dabbed it, cleaning the smudge. “I won’t.”

“I didn’t tell Crowley to do that you know? I didn’t even know his mother was a witch, or that they were planning on kidnapping you both.” Sam’s eyes wavered as he stared at Jimmy, filling with unshed tears.

Jimmy could see the desperation on Sam’s face and knew he was sincere. “I never thought you did. Crowley and Rowena were power hungry assholes, and if you had been helping them they would have gotten away with both of us. Instead, their hairbrained scheme was more Scooby-Doo than C.S.I Kansas,” he tried to joke but his voice sounded too flat for the humor to carry over.

Sam nodded before asking, “Did he ever say why? I mean, we were both on the fast track to making partner. Seems a waste to throw his career, and life, away on this plan of theirs.”

“Well, I did ask, you know, in between the beatings,” he flinched at how tight his voice was. “I asked him why and he said he was sick of living in magical cities and towns owned and run by others. That he would never get the power he craved so long as some witch was the head authority of half the population. 

“So, I asked why he didn’t just move to a non magical town. He said he didn’t want to work for less money, and only big, powerful cities had the money he craved. He wanted to run and command a thriving metropolis like how the witch Abaddon Knight runs and leads Nashville. Said it was in his blood to rule.”

Sam raised a brow, “What did you tell him?”

Jimmy grinned, his voice no longer sounding pained, “I told him his accent sounded fake and we both knew he was probably from Idaho.”

They shared a laugh, both of them feeling lighter and more at ease. “Why Idaho?”

Jimmy shrugged, “I don’t know, first thing that came to mind.”

They continued eating until the bowl was empty and Sam offered to heat up some tomato soup. Jimmy got up and fried up some grilled cheese sandwiches to go with the soup. Neither man was in a hurry to head back to bed. After the food was done they split everything between them and headed back to the table. Sam was more fidgety now but Jimmy ate his food, patiently waiting until the other man said whatever he had to say. His patience was rewarded in a few short minutes.

“Jimmy I—I want to apologize—” 

Neither man noticed the two brothers peeking around the wall; one with a large cat hanging around the back of his neck, the other with an owl on one shoulder and a marten on the other. “I had no right to talk to or treat you and Castiel the way that I have. I have no excuse and I don’t want to give one. I want us to be a family and I really want an opportunity to do better and be in both of your lives. I know with everything that happened, that you probably need time. I’m totally fine with that, but I want you to know I’m glad you’re both here and I look forward to the day when you both will allow me to call you my brothers.” Sam quickly grabbed a piece of his sandwich dunking it into the soup to try and move away from the awkwardness of his speech.

Jimmy reached out and placed his hand on the other man’s arm, stilling his movements. When Sam looked up Jimmy gave him a blinding, open smile. “Thank you Sam, I would love to call you and Gabe family. I accept your apology and while you didn’t want to give any excuses, I do understand why you felt the way you did. Dean was acting off, keeping a secret from you all. Then me and Gabe had a fight which, I’m sure once he told you about it, helped to color me and my brother in an even worse light. I get it, I do. My brother was the single most important person in my life and if anyone, for any reason—even a happy one—was a risk to taking him away from me… Yeah I would have been angry too. So, I forgive you Sam.” Sam gave him a smile and bit into his sandwich as Jimmy smirked. “But, you still gotta apologize to Cas, and I don’t want him getting a better speech than I got.”

Jimmy chuckled as Sam groaned out his discontent, but they continued eating, both missing when the others snuck back upstairs. After they ate and cleaned the area they headed upstairs whispering goodnight before entering their rooms. 

The next morning things were calmer, and Cas and Jimmy were included in Gabe’s kitchen routine. The twins helped with breakfast and in packing lunches for everyone to take to work. Jokes were shared and hugs were given as everyone headed out to work, familiars leaving with their witches. 

Dean grinned wide, his green eyes sparkling as he looked at the passenger seat of his baby and saw both cats curled up together. It had taken years, but their family was whole and his heart was so full of love he couldn’t believe it was true. He pulled out of the driveway, waving at his brothers as they pulled off. Driving into the rising sun he wondered if life would have more surprises for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> welp thats it for my first big bang. i hope you all enjoyed it cause I enjoyed making it. I’m already excited and have an idea for next years DCJ big bang. Please leave some love on [AnonAnton](http://anonanton.deviantart.com/%22) and let her know how much you enjoyed her art she worked super hard on it and ended up not only being my artist but the fics beta and she deserves all the kudos and love for all the hard and amazing work she’s done. I honestly couldn’t have done this without her and I never would have kept going if it wasn’t for her. On tumblr I’m [mrsgabrieltrickster](https://mrsgabrieltrickster.tumblr.com/) and she is [anonymousantonym](http://anonymousantonym.tumblr.com/) feel free to message us we are super friendly.

**Author's Note:**

> Awwww Dean found his familiar.  
> *** Edit I recently gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and haven't been able to write due to exhaustion and breastfeeding lol I haven't given up my writing and in fact have new ideas for more works and sequels for some just be patient and I'll be back as soon as I can. Until then I see all the kudos and will respond to all comments.


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